Everyone knows dealing with inheritance can create numerous family issues.
A woman shares that her sister is not satisfied with her half of the inheritance and wants her half as well.
The problem is: because she is a single mom and her kids are autistic, the family agrees with her.
Let’s analyze the situation.
AITA for not giving up my half of my inheritance from my mother because my sister who’s a single mom of a profoundly disabled child and needs money more
My (30/F) mother (63/F) passed away a couple of months ago following a sudden & unexpected cardiac arrest.
She owned a very nice home outright & had a fairly significant amount of savings as both her & my father’s retirement savings were in her bank account (my father died 8 years ago at 59 from cancer).
My sister “Meghan” (34/F) is a single mother to two sons aged 7 & 5, both of whom have autism, with the youngest being profoundly autistic & will require round the clock care for life.
She doesn’t work & is reliant on carer payments from the government & child support.
Her now ex husband divorced her because he couldn’t “deal with” his sons, moved to another country (dual citizen) where it’s hard to get child support because their government is difficult to work with.
My mother’s will divided her jewellery equally between us & that the rest of her estate should be split equally between us.
It is a difficult situation. But in the end, she has the right to decide, since their mom made her wishes clear.
Meghan is pressuring me into just taking the jewellery left to me & letting her have both the house & the money because: “I need it more because of the boys. You’re fine & can work”.
I want my share & said I won’t be giving it up. I’m childless and don’t plan to have children.
I work in legal for a non profit, and while I am far from “balling” in this economy, I’m able to pay my bills without financial stress. My fiancee is foreign born (I met her overseas at a concert in early 2018 and we’ve been going back/forward as much as we can ever since, remote work helps a lot) and we are in the process of securing her permanent residency on a partner visa here which is an expensive & time consuming process.
Receiving my share will wipe out what’s left of my student debt, allow me to take time off work to get her Visa sorted faster and buy us a small but still nice house outright so we can live without the stress of a mortgage.
Not having a mortgage will afford us the ability to live comfortably but not extravagantly, take a holiday every year and be free of financial stress.
It will also pay for a small but nice wedding & to fly her parents & sister out for it.
So she has plans and the money would be very helpful.
Meghan is furious, saying it’s selfish and I can always get a better job if I want a better life & at least I can work and that I need to have sympathy for her situation.
I don’t want to give up work I am passionate about & that gives me good work life balance to go work 14 hour days in Big Law downtown to service a mortgage.
She is very honest both about her stance and her sister’s situation.
I also feel like as harsh as it sounds, I shouldn’t have to sacrifice for her choices.
My fiancee and I have chosen not to have kids, and while I know she didn’t choose to have a disabled son, she did choose to gamble on parenthood (her kids were both planned) and it’s not my fault she “lost” by having a disabled kid and ending up a single mother.
I am legally entitled and she can’t do anything to try and get it, but she’s told a few people, and a lot of them say I’m being selfish and should give up my share.
AITA?
That’s no cookie-cutter situation.
Let’s see what Reddit has to say.
A user has some insights to share.
This commenter has a suggestion.
This user has a similar suggestion…
A commenter shares their point of view.
This commenter makes a good point.
This user offers some kind words.
Sometimes, the person complaining is the one in the wrong.
The mom knew what she was doing.
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