It’s always a shock when family passes away, but even more so when they leave behind an unexpected inheritance.

One city dweller was surprised to learn his parents left him the majority of their family farm.

But when he offers to forfeit his share to his younger brother who was more suited for the task, his wife accuses him of giving up a potentially lucrative future.

Read on for the full story!

AITA for refusing to inherit the family farm and giving it to my younger brother instead?

I (36M) grew up on a big farm that was owned by my family, who worked as farmers for generations.

Despite his family’s passion, he always felt out of place.

Much to the detriment of my parents, I hated the farm life from a very young age.

I never liked dirt or grime, and farm animals were also never my thing.

So he chose a new life and was much better for it.

So, to no one’s surprise, I left the farm when I turned 18 and never looked back.

I currently live in a big city.

I still love my family very much and visit the farm from time to time, but I’m always the happiest when I return to my urban lifestyle.

But then tragedy struck the family, leaving two brothers with an inheritance.

My mother passed away three years ago, and two months ago I unexpectedly lost my father due to a work accident.

This left my younger brother, Tom (30M), and me as the sole beneficiaries of their estate.

He didn’t have high expectations from it.

I didn’t expect to be left with much, since my folks helped me out financially more than enough times while they were still alive.

I honestly only wanted a couple of family trinkets and heirlooms to keep as keepsakes.

But it turns out, he was left much more than he expected.

But to my surprise, as my brother and I sat down with the attorney to discuss our father’s will, we discovered that I was left with the majority of the farm — about 3/4 — while Tom was left with the rest.

The only reason I can fathom behind this decision is that, unlike Tom, I have two children (10M and 7F), so maybe that’s why I was given the bigger share.

But I’m not entirely sure, since my children had their own inheritance in the will.

He didn’t think this was fair to his brother at all, so he tried to make it right.

Either way, this split of inheritance was ridiculous, since unlike myself, Tom actually lived on the farm and dedicated his entire life to working on it alongside our parents.

I saw that Tom was also shaken up by the decision, so I reassured him that I found it absurd as well and that I didn’t mind forfeiting the land to him.

Tom said I didn’t have to do that, but I insisted.

So the two brothers agreed on a solution.

After some back and forth on the topic, we mutually agreed to settle this between ourselves at a later date, when everything would be transferred under our names as our parents intended.

But not everyone was on board.

I recently informed my wife, Jules (35F), of my decision regarding my inheritance, and she is furious with me for wanting to give most of it up.

She is arguing that my decision is impulsive and short-sighted, since the farmland is worth a fortune and I’m just giving it away without a second thought.

He defends his decision, but his wife pushes back more.

I told her that the land is worth a fortune only for those who actually intend on doing something with it, and since I neither intend to sell it nor farm on it, it’s effectively useless to me.

Jules continued to say that it might be useless to me, but I should think about our children, who might one day want to start farming.

So he tries to compromise, but it’s still not good enough.

I told her that, in that case, I’ll transfer only half of the land to Tom, so our children could have 1/4 of the land at their disposal in the hypothetical scenario they get into farming one day.

Jules is now not speaking to me until I reconsider my decision.

AITA?

Now he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.

What did Reddit think?

It’s clear to this commenter that this couple have very different priorities when it comes to the inheritance.

It’s true that anything can happen, but the inheritance shouldn’t be decided based on what the kids may or may not want to do 20 years from now.

Jules may pretend to care about the children, but this user sees right through that claim.

Maybe there’s a solution that leaves all parties happy.

He’s not likely to regret wanting to do right by his brother.

It wasn’t about a fortune to him — it was about fairness.

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.