Money troubles can carve rifts in the most solid relationship, and managing money for another adult can definitely put a person in a sticky situation.

But in this story, a person made a promise to fulfill his brother’s last wish, and he’s not taking that promise lightly.

Still, his sister-in-law is making him feel like a jerk.

Check it out and decide for yourself whether or not she has a point.

AITA for not giving my late brother’s wife access to money meant for my nephew during an emergency?

My brother James was married to Elle for 10 years.

They had one living child in that time, my nephew Caden (16).

Elle had five miscarriages as well and that’s something I mention because it will come up later.

Caden was only 5 when James passed.

Before that, James was awarded money for a lapse in medical care which cost him his life ultimately.

Tragic story, but at least there was some recompense.

James wanted the largest part to go to Caden and when he was sorting his estate and final wishes he asked if I would become the caretaker of the money.

He had it in a bank account but wanted to be 100% satisfied it would go to Caden alone.

He said it wasn’t about Elle or how much he trusted her but she would remarry and he had no way of knowing if the man who came into their lives could be trusted.

Heavy burden to carry, but at least James is looking after his son.

And since he wouldn’t get to see Caden grow up, he wanted to secure some stability for Caden’s future.

I agreed and when he paseed, he left me in charge of the bank account with the money.

It wasn’t put into a trust or anything like that.

But only I have access to it.

There’s one trusted caretaker of these funds… because James wanted it that way.

Elle was understanding of everything at the time and we remained on good terms for a couple of years but then things soured a little.

It was unrelated to the money, but she had started dating someone and when I met him I felt something was off about him.

She saw it as me not wanting her to move on.

But they broke up and it turned out I was right.

However the damage to the relationship was done.

We were civil for Caden’s sake after that.

See above, re: rifts…

Elle did remarry a few years ago.

Her husband has children of his own and this is where the point of the post comes in.

One of Elle’s stepchildren was involved in a near-fatal accident in December while with her maternal grandparents.

Elle and her husband were trying to get to her, because she was out of the country.

Once again, tragedy strikes.

Elle contacted me to say she needed some of Caden’s money so they could go there.

She told me she wasn’t sure how much in total she’d need by the time everything was sorted but she knew there would be enough to cover everything and still leave Caden with money.

I told her the money was for Caden and Caden alone and I wasn’t giving her any of it.

That I was sorry for what they were going through, but the money needed to come from somewhere else.

Money can’t solve every problem. And this cash was already spoken for.

I spoke to Caden the same day and he asked me not to give any of the money up if asked again.

He said he knew his mom was going to keep asking if they didn’t get money from anywhere else.

I promised Caden I’d keep the money safe.

A promise is a promise.

I was asked again a number of times.

Eventually the money did come from somewhere else.

But Elle and her husband ended up taking on debt because of her stepdaughter’s accident.

And Elle is angry that I was sitting on a large sum of money for Caden and wouldn’t let her use any of it for a real emergency.

Sure there are exceptions, but… what would you do?

She said it was the wrong decision and totally callous.

AITA?

It was James’ last wish to provide for his son.

Did his sibling do the right thing?

Let’s see what the comments say.

This person says, NTA, your brother saw it a mile away.

Another person says, why would Elle even consider those funds available?

Someone else says sorry you’re stuck in the middle!

Another user is like, if Caden doesn’t want her to have the money either, maybe she doesn’t deserve it.

Another person says, big brother knew best.

This brother would roll over in his grave if his trust were betrayed.

He somehow knew what would happen once he was gone.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.