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Grief is hard enough without relatives asking about money.
Then a widow learns her sister-in-law expects something for the nieces and nephews.
Her husband left no will, and everything legally passed to her.
See why sharing the estate feels wrong.
WIBTA not dishing out late husband’s money to nieces and nephews?
Long story short, my husband of 10 years passed away 3 months ago at the age of 45. I am beyond sad.
We are (were) childfree by choice. We worked hard, traveled, and got involved in community volunteering. I was so happy with my life.
Husband left no will, so local laws dictate that everything comes to me as his widow.
Now, SIL is making enquiries about his will and whether his late husband left anything to his nieces and nephews. He never communicated any such instructions to me.
His family is guilt-tripping her.
The late husband did not have a particularly close relationship with his family, other than texting and seeing them a handful of times a year. SIL visited our house maybe twice in 12 years.
I am being made to feel like I should give her some of his money for her children. While I see it would be a nice thing to do, I am grieving and have sole responsibility for our house expenses now.
I can manage financially, but will probably have to sell our marital home, which crushes me further. The life I dreamt of has been stolen from me, and I have no idea about the future anymore.
AITA?
Wow! What a sad situation.
Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit suggest she do.
This person tells her to keep the money.
Here’s an excellent point.
For this person, they’d be up front with her.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a sister with a bad history who found herself staying in a hotel instead of with family.
According to this reader, a little white lie would work.
Her husband left no instructions to give money to the children, while she was already facing grief and possibly losing their home.
Folks online strongly backed her, saying she should protect herself financially and shut down the pressure from her sister-in-law.
Nothing says condolences like checking whether the inheritance came with a family discount.