When one family member refuses to let go, the whole family ends up stuck.

So, what would you do if your sibling was living rent-free in your late mother’s home, refusing to clean, hoarding trash, and delaying the entire family’s ability to move forward? Would you feel bad and let them stay? Or would you draw the line and force them out?

In the following story, one group of siblings finds themselves facing this very decision with their sister. Here’s what’s going on.

AITA For kicking my sister out our Mother’s (RIP) home?

Context- Me F60, Brother M60, Sister Bertha F(62), Sister F(72), and Sister F(50) have allowed our unemployed sister Bertha (62) to continue living in our childhood home for 2.5 years since our mother’s passing.

Bertha has never kept a job for very long. She has mooched off our parents for most of her adult life, and Bertha is also a hoarder.

She has been living rent-free for 6 years in that house. Originally to help our parents in their old age, which we all soooo appreciated!

Bertha is the only one living in that state. We all live a minimum 10 hr drive from there.

Since our mother’s passing, there have been several trips between my sisters and me to start the process to de-junk and remove items from the house.

Currently, the siblings are planning a trip to the home.

Bertha has a complete meltdown and refuses to part with ANYTHING.

She knows that at some point, she has to leave. But the piles and piles and piles (Mail, newspapers, magazines, trash) we haven’t made a dent in. Each time we go, the rest of my siblings feel their time and money were wasted because Bertha wouldn’t allow it.

Fast forward to now, we have found a week we can all meet at our childhood home to try to do most of it. We had a Zoom call to plan it, and verbally, everyone was in agreement.

Now, as the date of our trip is getting closer, Bertha is saying things (via texts) that she doesn’t want anything to leave the house, but we can make more ‘piles’ of things.

Every other sibling except for her has already taken the keepsakes they want. It’s only her holding on for dear life to it all.

The only problem is what to do about Bertha.

We have tried to be sensitive to her situation.

She is unemployed, but she hasn’t been looking for a job either. She is employable.

However, all of us could benefit greatly from the clean-out and sale of the house. Bertha would have a good amount to put down on a home or condo.

We have one more Zoom call before our trip. We have ordered a dumpster, and construction crews etc. to get the home emptied, and repaired while we are there.

All of us siblings and our parents agreed, Bertha has been enabled for so long she cannot conceive of leaving this house. In her head she knows the home nor its belongings are ‘hers’. It now belongs to 5 siblings equally. However, her actions do not support this.

AITA?

Yikes! That’s a tough situation for them.

Let’s check out what advice the readers over at Reddit have to offer.

According to this comment, it’s more than laziness for Bertha.

Here’s someone else who thinks Bertha has a mental illness.

Excellent advice.

As this person explains, Bertha could be dealing with any number of mental conditions.

This situation is bigger than them.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.