Roger Isaacs, Partner at Milsted Langdon LLP, has blamed “Skiiing” – also known as “Spending the kids’ inheritance” – and gifting to children during their lifetimes for falling numbers of retirees expecting to leave an inheritance.

Research from Prudential has found that while 52 per cent of new retirees in 2011 expected they would be able to leave an inheritance, this figure almost halved to 28 per cent in 2016.

Roger said: “It seems to me that there could be two reasons for this phenomenon. The first is ‘Skiing’ otherwise known as ‘Spending the Kids’ Inheritance’, whereby parents are forced to sell their homes to pay for nursing care but also are increasingly from a generation that saved less and was less inhibited from spending on self-indulgence than the wartime generation who tended to be more prudent, preferring to save for a rainy day than spend on themselves.”

However, he did not think younger generations were necessarily losing out, saying: “The other factor is that many parents are giving money to their children during their lifetimes, to help fund education and housing needs.”

“It may therefore be that children are inheriting just as much as ever but are no longer having to wait until their parents have died to get their hands on the cash.”