A lot of people dream of winning the lottery, but in today’s story, one lottery winner finds out that winning comes with drama in the form of everyone asking for money.

Now, he’s refusing to help his brother financially and wondering if he should give in or not.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

AITA for refusing to help my brother after his wife blabbed about my financial situation?

A few years ago, I won a lottery and became set for many lives over. Even though my name and winnings were public records, I worked hard to keep it a secret.

For the most part it worked.

After verifying my winnings and setting up a trust, I told my family.

OP wanted to share his winnings with his family.

My plan was to basically help each of my three brothers and my parents depending on their needs.

My brother Chris and his wife Alice had three kids, and I offered to pay for a down payment on a house they wanted. As crazy as it sounds, I was more broke the first year of winning than the year before I won because I was helping my family out.

I had one rule for anyone who took money from me – don’t tell anyone about my money.

Chris and Alice blabbed about the money.

Well Chris and Alice did for clout, and that unleashed a lot of people bombarding me with money requests. These were friends of theirs, friends of friends of theirs, in-laws, etc.

Like my brother’s BIL asked me to pay for a wedding in St Lucia because his fiancée wanted one and I met the guy twice in nine years.

Though this happened in 2021, people still bother me constantly for money.

I was pissed and cut my brother off. This led to a rift in the family, and I largely became estranged from them. It was unfortunate because I was very close to my nephews and wanted to spoil them.

OP’s other brother called to ask OP to help Chris financially.

Last week my other brother emailed me and said Chris has been sick all year and is bed ridden and gets specialized care. Something to do with breathing.

I said that was sad.

He said that Chris and Alice were going to lose the house because Chris hasn’t been working. They have four kids from age 4 to 15.

I told him if he had something to say, then say it.

He asked me if I’d help them out by paying their outstanding bills until they can get back on their feet.

OP refused to give Chris money because he worries they’ll tell everyone again.

I said no.

The money isn’t the issue. It’s my privacy.

I have no idea if they will keep their mouths shut about my helping them. I get painted as a “nice rich guy” and then I have 10 people bothering me with their problems.

You help them once, they’ll keep on coming back. It’s very funny how people just happen to have financial emergencies when you’re helping others out.

Another reason OP doesn’t want to help Chris is that he doesn’t get along with Alice.

The other problem is that if my brother does pass, then I don’t want Alice getting a house that I paid 20% of. She and I don’t get along and she’s the one who put my business out there.

She was so certain that I’d take care of them that she didn’t even bother to say “thanks for the down payment on our dream house!”

How bad is their financial situation? Bad. I’d offer to help in other ways but beggars want to be choosers and negotiate their charity.

It would be hard to trust the brother and sister-in-law again. I can understand why OP doesn’t want to give them any money.

Let’s see how Reddit responded…

This reader suggested OP pay for Chris’s kids to go to college but nothing else.

Another reader thinks OP has every right to say “no.”

This reader encourages OP not to give Chris money.

Another person thinks at the very least Chris and Alice should be the ones to ask.

This reader is plotting malicious compliance…

I wouldn’t want to help out Chris and Alice either.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.