Grandmother Left Her Granddaughter Valuable Heirlooms Before She Died, But Now The Family Can’t Find Them
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When someone in your family passes, there is a lot to deal with. Because you – and all the people around you – understandably have a whole lot of feelings, and yet some folk among you are likely to be called upon to make a lot of decisions you never really want to have to make, all while you’re in a compromised emotional state. You are now being asked about funerals, about burials or cremations, about wakes and maybe even inquests – and all that time you are just wanting to grieve. Sure, some people cope better with the feelings while they’re keeping busy, but in practice this whole time can feel like a messy emotional whirlwind.
Then, later, comes the matter of probate. If the deceased person had a will, things should be quite straightforward. But the truth is, things aren’t always that easy, and the family in this story had some huge issues with grandma’s will, even though many of them weren’t even on speaking terms with her. And for a granddaughter who did keep in contact with her grandma, this caused an even bigger drama – but she’s keeping her mouth shut for now.
Read on to find out why.
AITA for not telling my relatives that I have grandma’s scary heirloom fairies?
My grandma had seven children. Of those seven, she had a great relationship with one (my aunt who was my best friend, passed away in 2018) and a pretty decent relationship with my mom.
My grandma was a harsh Slavic lady, and objectively was a terrible parent. But, my mom is a dutiful person who took care of her, was kind to her, etc.
The other five children had no or limited contact with my grandma, all for different reasons, some very valid, some more their own fault.
It’s a very dysfunctional family. I have zero contact with any of my mother’s siblings or their children, on purpose. My mother and I were the only relatives regularly calling, visiting, etc.
Let’s see what happened with this family down the line.
My husband and I helped my grandma and grandpa move into a care facility several years ago because we lived in the region and I had a pretty decent relationship with them.
My grandma had these fairy statues (“from back in ze old country”) that I find to be petrifying, and have since I was a kid. But, she (and my aunt who passed away) *loved* them.
She begged me to take them, and I was reluctant, but she wore me down by saying my aunt wanted me to have them. This was five-ish years ago.
Little did grandma know, these fairies would be at the centre of a whole load of new drama.
Fast forward to today, my grandma and grandpa have both recently passed away and my mother’s siblings have just been awful. Making everything about themselves. Yelling at my mom because she paid for their burials? Fighting the will tooth and nail (as the house was left to their former caregiver and his partner, which I think is wonderful), etc.
And now the fairies have come up. Allegedly they’re worth some money, the entire collection might be worth around $10k based on a rough estimate, per them. And nobody, including my mother, has any idea where they are.
They have of course accused the caregiver of selling them (which would be his legal right anyway if they hadn’t been given to me…) They’ve accused each other. It’s become a contentious issue.
Some of them are hard up for money. Some of them say they want something to remember her by (and maybe that’s even true, it’s possible I’m not being super charitable).
Let’s see where the fairies are now.
Currently the statues are in my daughter’s room, she adores them and she actually really loved my grandma.
Frankly I don’t want them sold, and I also don’t want to get involved in the family drama. But, I also feel conflicted because maybe I’m being harsh and keeping one of the only things my grandma left behind from her children.
Am I wrong for keeping this a secret?
AITA?
Honestly, this sounds like such a massive family drama, and she’d do well to stay out of it and let the family forget about the fairies all over again.
Because it sounds like they’re just in it for the money, especially since most of them weren’t on speaking terms with grandma anyway and had nothing left to them in her will.
But this granddaughter was gifted the fairies by her grandmother long before she passed – so they aren’t grandma’s fairies any more, they’re hers, and she gets to choose what to do with them.
Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.
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This person agreed that there was no need for anyone to know where the fairies had gone.
While others urged her to continue playing ignorant.
This person encouraged her to be vigilant about where the fairies might be spotted.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who deliberately kisses his newborn nephew while sick with a cold, going directly against the parents’ explicit wishes.
While this Redditor pointed out how much more value the fairies have to this woman and her daughter.
Honestly, this is the fact. The family are being ruthless with grandma’s will, trying to squeeze out any bit of cash they can get from their deceased mother. However this granddaughter, who cared for her grandmother and helped her move – along with her daughter, the great-granddaughter, who loved the difficult woman dearly – were genuinely gifted something by the grandmother long before she died. And until they figured out they were worth some money, no one in the family was even remotely interested in what had happened to the fairy statues, while all the while they were bringing joy to the little great-granddaughter who was presumably missing her great-grandmother very much.
The very best thing this granddaughter and great-granddaughter can do is to continue to keep their mouths shut when it comes to the location of the fairies. Because if anyone finds out, they will be guilt tripping and pressuring them to sell – when the nature of gifting means that these fairies now belong to them. Should they choose to sell them down the line, the money should go to the granddaughter and great-granddaughter that the fairies were gifted to, not the unscrupulous money-grabbing folk they just happen to be related to. And surely that’s what grandma would have wanted.
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