End-of-life plans can get messy, especially if family members have differing morals.
When there is money involved, things can get really tense, and fast.
One Redditor details their family history and how justice was finally served to some pretty greedy family members.
Read the article below and find out.
“But what about the inheritance!”
So this is a long, old story involving my mum’s aunt all circulating since my Mum’s mum (my Grandma) passed away.
Note to this story:
I will refer to them as my “aunt” and “uncle”, as it’s the only names I’ve known them as, and this is an important note on why money ruins families.
So background on my grandma — my grandma was the result of her parents being intimate before marriage, when it was not acceptable.
This forced my great grandparents to get married.
Growing up, there was a LOT of resentment for my grandma and a large amount of unease, which did carry over to my grandma’s brother who was the golden child, and I know as “Uncle.”
That’s gotta be so tough to be brought into a family with that much emotional baggage already.
My grandma was pretty much told, as soon as she was old enough, [that] she needed to get married so she’d no longer be their problem.
[As] soon as my grandma turned 18, she got married and instead of beatings, he was a drunk who took all her money where her parents didn’t care.
That’s so heartbreaking. Was there a way out for her?
[As] soon as my grandma left him, she [was] left with nothing and had to go home to her parents’ beatings instead.
During this time in her life, her own parents make it aware that, once she was married, she was her husband’s problem and had changed their wills, so the only person getting any money, should they die, would be Uncle.
My grandma is upset but accepts it anyway.
Take 10 years later, my grandma is remarried to my grandfather who treats her right, but they struggle to get pregnant.
Whilst her brother is married to his wife, who is gloating that each time my grandparents come home after having a stillborn.
She has a perfectly healthy baby with each nursery for said child, paid for by both grandparents.
Why is this family so terrible to her? I just don’t get it.
Just after the last gloat, my grandma gives birth to my mum, and both Uncle and Aunt worry about the inheritance after Great Grandfather’s health takes a swan dive.
Great Grandfather passes away, and apart from a cheap pocket watch my grandma gets, she’s left out of the will or any money given whilst Uncle is literally gloating about how he can now afford his dream house.
My grandma cuts a large amount of contact out through the amount of hurt they are causing.
Honestly, it sounds like a healthy thing to do.
Fast-forward now 15 years, and my great grandmother health is in real decline and Uncle and Aunt are talking about divorce.
They had spent the money Great Grandfather had left them and her own parents’ money.
My grandparents were freaking out at this point about her declining health and making sure she’s not in pain, whilst Aunt openly says she hopes she does pass away as she needs cash.
Yup. Classy people.
Anyway Great Grandmother, before she passes away, tells my grandmother that she hadn’t wished to change her will to leave her out.
She had been forced to and handed her a wad of money telling her that, whilst she wishes my grandmother had a better mother, she had been the biggest mistake in her life.
My grandma got her final happy moment with her mother, but also a kick in the balls.
My aunt and uncle hadn’t been there at all, so when they finally show up, they are taking claim to items and saying “nothing must leave the house until the will is sorted”.
This grandmother is one strong woman to take all this.
Here comes part of the title.
My grandma is the only one to try and sort out some sort of funeral for her and hoped the will would allow her some cash to bury her.
As you’ve guessed it already, Aunt and Uncle make it clear they are in charge of the will and anything to be passed around.
They take charge of the funeral, pretty much shoving my grandmother out.
And, to add insult to injury, shortly after the service, they inform my grandma that she had been left nothing in the will and how Great Gran hadn’t bothered to include her for anything at all.
These people sound truly terrible.
Just a general note here: my mum, during the service, had gone to my great grandma’s house and had broken in to take a couple of items she knew my grandma wanted.
Two photo albums, a few small rings, and two small statues, so my grandma actually gained some items from it all.
My grandma did try to see if she could fight them to get anything, but pretty much gave up and just cut complete contact with them, especially after they refused to attend her own husband’s funeral.
So, fast-forward to a giant time skip to 2009, and I’m 10 going on 11 with no idea really who Aunt and Uncle [are], apart from a Christmas and occasional birthday card. But my grandmother’s health is really deteriorating.
My grandma pretty much knew her time was up and had spoken more openly on her upbringing, family life and who Uncle and Aunt were.
Turns out, Uncle had tried to reconnect when Aunt left him once again over money problems, but since himself and Aunt had reconciled, my grandma left him to his own death sentence.
But Uncle knew my grandma’s health had really gone down hill, once again.
Wow. These people seem heartless!
Anyway, my grandma happens to suffer a stroke at 78 and, along with having diabetes and being pretty much blind, my grandma knows her time was coming to an end quicker than we all wanted to accept.
She made my parents aware that, under no circumstances, are we to accept Aunt and Uncle into our lives, as Aunt had been trying to call her more often to ensure my grandma had a will.
I can understand why!
Shortly after my grandma returns from rest care, my uncle visits her and attempts to pressure her into changing her will to [make him] in charge, as in his opinion, “mum will not cope with the pressures of planning your funeral and sorting out the house sale”.
My grandma had apparently agreed and was only stopped from doing so when she asked my dad to take her to an appointment to change the will.
She told my dad her master plan, and my dad takes her to the appointment.
Fast-forward to the end of August, and my grandma’s health rapidly declines in 24 hours, to the point she was happy and healthy to being in the back of an ambulance.
She is rushed to hospital and manages to survive another 24 hours before she passes away.
My mum had informed Uncle and Aunt of my grandmother’s condition, but they refuse to visit at all.
This sends my mum into meltdown that she was alone in the world with two young children, having to cope with planning a funeral.
Three days later is actually the first time I meet Aunt and Uncle in the flesh.
I’m dreading hearing about this.
They wanted to visit to discuss my grandma with my mum.
Now this is a little blurry to me, however, I do remember my uncle being sad about her passing away, and he did play with mine and my sister’s Lego blocks whilst Aunt did question into why grandma had died so soon (and also if we knew if there was any cash left to them).
So he did the bare minimum of being kind to children…
My mum, whilst upset, answered as many questions as she could before forcing them out, as they were upsetting her further.
So my grandma’s funeral had to be set. So it would either be held on my birthday or my aunt’s son’s birthday, which are two days apart.
My parents had to choose Aunt’s son’s birthday, as they didn’t really want it to be on their oldest daughter’s birthday.
If they’re planning it, they get to choose!
This set a bad mood for the day, as they tried to inform Aunt and Uncle of this news but had been ignored completely.
The service was held, and before it could even start, my Aunt is pressuring my parents to allow myself and my sister to sit with her side of the family.
My parents kept us to their side of the family and [started] ignoring them.
After the service [ends] is when this finally blows up.
We had a small get together, afterwards, where people came around to celebrate my grandma’s life.
A lot of her friends made big deals out of [me] and my sister by giving us a memory box of possessions that reminded them of my grandma.
This had just been given to us when Aunt starts boasting that Uncle has the power of the will, and they planned to take a certain amount for all the stress it caused on them.
Jokes on them though; my dad asks them in which copy of the will was this the case.
To which they reply, “the last copy she ever made.”
Okay, now I’m putting two and two together…
See if you remember from further back up, my grandma HAD changed her will with my dad being there, and this is where my dad slams down the power moves.
The changes had been to give my mum and dad full control, a small amount to be set aside for me and my sister and the grand total of 10 pounds to be given to Aunt and Uncle.
Oh, and if they contested the will, they got nothing. Nothing at all.
As you can imagine, being told that they blew their lids, swearing and upsetting the kids in the room, and I remember being shuffled upstairs as my mum and dad kicked her out.
Anyway, Aunt being a jerk, she contests the will and loses the grand total of 10 pounds left to her and my uncle.
I’m sure, at that point, they figured, “Why not?”
My mum, by then, had sold off a lot of possessions she didn’t want to keep.
The house sale had been pretty much finalized by the time my uncle came begging for items to remember my grandma with or to be given a small amount of money that was “rightfully” his, as surely his sister wanted to leave him something in the will.
My mum laughed him out of her house and that was the last time we actually saw either one of them.
Wow. I’d say that’s some major Pro Revenge.
Why do I write this now though?
Well, turns out in nine years of being little to no contact, my uncle had died during the summer for us to only find out at Christmas via a Christmas card.
Don’t worry though, he was surrounded by loved ones, as Aunt so gracefully put it, but neither of them had much money left.
For his funeral, his children had to beg, borrow, and steal the cash to afford [it] and in the Christmas card they asked if we could give them some money.
My mum couldn’t say goodbye to her uncle but did get to make a lovely bonfire instead using the card.
The moral of this story is: you may not get to choose your family. [But] you do, however, get to choose who you call family.
This is high family drama! What does Reddit think about this inheritance debacle?
Firstly, credit went to “old Grandma.”
People also got a kick out of the amount she left them.
Others offered their condolences for her loss.
And some readers noted that Grandma may have gotten the “last laugh.”
This revenge was well deserved.
Real families are there for each other, regardless of the circumstances.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.