If you had a parent who treated you differently from a sibling because they financially couldn’t afford to be fair, would you hold it against them for decades, or be understanding of the circumstances?
Sadly, this man is on his deathbed and has stage four cancer. It’s become aggressive, and so he’s working through wrapping up his will since he doesn’t have much longer to live.
Now, he has two children, a daughter and a son, but his son cut him out of his life 20 years ago, back when he was 18. His son did this after he failed to pay for his college education, but did for his daughter.
“It wasn’t because I didn’t want to or, like he believes, that I didn’t love him, but I just couldn’t. I made some terrible investments [at] that time, and financially, I was [in a bad place],” he explained.
“I could barely keep food on the table, much less pay for his college, but to him, that meant I hated him, which wasn’t true at all. He’s married now with multiple kids that I never met and will probably die before I ever get to meet any of them.”
“Meanwhile, my daughter and son-in-law have been nothing but loving to me. Ever since I was diagnosed 4 years ago, my daughter hasn’t left my side. Every single hospital stay, she was there with me, she always brought her beautiful kids to cheer me on and keep me fighting.”
He loves his daughter and her family with all of his heart. His son-in-law has become like one of his own, and he appreciates how loving and protective of his daughter this man is.
He still has love for his son, too, despite not having spoken to him in two decades. It breaks his heart that his son wants nothing to do with him.
However, he doesn’t feel that his son is deserving of any assets or money and should be left out of the will after what he did. He’s worried that it will be disrespectful to his daughter and her family if he leaves his son a dime.
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After all, his son hates his guts over an incident he couldn’t control, so that’s why he wants leave his daughter and son-in-law everything.
He’s left wondering if it would make him a jerk to do this, and he’s struggling here.
I understand that he is still hurt over not having any kind of relationship with his son, but at the very least, I think he should try to call him and have a conversation.
I wouldn’t want to leave this planet without getting closure over something this big. I know it’s his money to do what he wants with, but it could be a nice legacy to leave his son with even just a little bit of money.
What do you think?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
