Back in December, this man’s mother-in-law sadly passed away. And in her will, his mother-in-law left her home to him and his wife in “equal part and portion.”
However, the house was in pretty rough shape and was only worth about $80,000. So, he and his wife ultimately spent between $5,000 and $10,000, as well as hundreds of hours working, over the course of six months to get the property back into better condition for selling.
“We lived 1.5 hours away and worked every weekend and a couple of weeks vacation fixing the place,” he recalled.
By the end of it, he and his wife were also able to sell the home for $128,000. This was the only inheritance money they received.
But, his wife has two brothers, 53 and 40-years-old, who had not spoken to his mother-in-law ever since they were teenagers– roughly 18 and 13-years-old, respectively.
According to him, that was the reason why his brothers-in-law were not also included in the will.
As for how he and his wife decided to divvy up their inheritance, they ultimately gave their two children $1,000 each. He also provided one brother-in-law with $2,000 and gave each of that brother-in-law’s four children $1,000 each. Then, to his other brother-in-law, he and his wife handed over $10,000.
“This was the 40-year-old who lived with his mother until 18, and it wasn’t pretty,” he clarified.
Well, after breaking up the inheritance, his 40-year-old brother-in-law has since written a letter to his wife asking for more money– $15,000 more, to be exact. And the main issue is that his wife has a good relationship with that brother. So, she is worried that if she doesn’t hand over more of the inheritance, then her brother will cut him out of his life.
For context, his brother-in-law has had two children with two different women and is forced to pay two separate child support payments.
“My brother-in-law cheated on his wife while his first child was a toddler,” he noted.
His brother-in-law also has a doctorate in history and currently teaches at a private school, but he is sitting on a ton of student loan debt.
Still, he doesn’t want to hand over any more cash to the guy. He thinks that he already gave away $18,000 of what was supposed to be an $80,000 inheritance, and that particular brother-in-law was given the largest share.
“In my mind, all the extra work we did will be going to him, and I’m [angry],” he vented.
So now, he’s been left wondering if refusing to give more inheritance money to his brother-in-law would be justified or just a jerky move.
Do you think that his brother-in-laws were left out of his mother-in-law’s will for a reason? Was he and his wife obligated to give them any cash in the first place? Does he have a right to refuse to hand over more inheritance? What would you do if you were in his shoes?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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By Katharina Buczek
Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing in... More about Katharina Buczek
