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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Dads behaviour and relationship since my mum died

147 replies

Kevinthebird007 · 28/11/2022 16:07

As a background, my dad has always told me he was bisexual. He has had both male and female relationships during his life, but since 1985 had been with my mum. Sadly she passed away from cancer last year after a short battle with the disease. They were happy, but dad had periods of time in prison for fraud, obtaining funds by deception etc. The last time he was in prison was in 2015 for 6 months. He missed his own 70th, my DS1s 1st and my 30th. I was also aware that my dad was messaging men explicit messages while with my mum because on occasion he would accidentally send them to me.
My mum passed away in October 2021 and in january of this year dad declared he had met someone; a 28 year old young man that he'd bumped into in a hotel and they'd got chatting. Things seemed to escalate quickly, with the chap visiting my dad's home and staying for periods of time. Whereas my dad had said my children and I couldn't sit in my mums chair, this chap could which upset me. They went out for lots of dinners etc but he assured me that they were splitting bills and that actually his new partner was from a wealthy background studying a PhD so had no need to gold dig. A couple of months in, dad told me that his partner had asked him to move up to Manchester to be with him. I suggested this wasn't a good idea, he'd be far away from all friends and family. He told me that he wouldn't, then said he was using some money from my mums estate to buy the house he was in so that we could inherit it when the time came. A month later my dad called me begging for money saying that he needed it for a house exchange in Manchester. I refused. I had no money to offer and I didn't approve of him moving up there. He told me that the relationship had then ended because of that. A few weeks later dad called saying he was getting death threats etc from a man he owed money to. I had calls from neighbours and strangers (I live 3 hrs from dad) saying he owed them money, that he'd taken deposits from people for them to move into the house only for him to then disappear etc. I then found out he hadn't bought the house he was in at all. He's spent all of my mums estate (nearly £600k) and the remainder in shares he can't release. He's spent savings my mum had built up for my children, he's also spent a house deposit mum had left to me. He stole money from my uncle (my mums brother) including off of bank cards, credit cards etc while he was in hospital and my uncle has since died. My cousins now hate my dad and have cut him off. I have now found that the partner was an escort. Dad tells me he never met him as an escort but during the time they were together this guy would msg him asking for money and dad would give it, selling and stealing whatever he could. It also transpires the guy was 20,not 28. My dad is 77.

I am the only person my dad has left. I feel guilty because I don't want him with us at Christmas as I hate him for what he's done. He's my dad and I love him but he's driven a truck through my mums memory and made a mess of our lives. Do I invite him for Christmas? Or do i stick to my guns. AIBU?

OP posts:
Deadringer · 28/11/2022 21:07

He should be in prison for taking those deposits under false pretences, no way in hell I would have him around my kids, at Christmas or any other time.

dotdotdotdash · 28/11/2022 21:12

Tell this PC bloke to invite him round for Christmas if he feels so sorry for him!

Of course you love him - he’s your dad. It’s conflicting to care about someone who treats you badly. But he’s treated you all like crap. Leave him to his own drama.

Soothsayer1 · 28/11/2022 21:12

Kevinthebird007 · 28/11/2022 21:06

@Soothsayer1 he always tells me I'm a better daughter than he deserves and he's never been a good dad, but that then makes me feel bad. Nobody wants to hear that :(

he says that to make you feel a certain way so that you'll do what he wants you to.
If only you could bring yourself to say 'yes you were a shit dad' but it's VERY hard to break that internal prohibition that we have to speak or act against a parent. You've been trained since birth to obey, it's very hard to go against that.
Let his life follow the course that he is on, let that flame fade out on it's own, keep your distance or you'll be burned.

Kevinthebird007 · 28/11/2022 21:20

@JasperJohnsPaintbrush I've just searched the registry and there is probate so I've ordered the document. Does probate mean there was a will?

OP posts:
Kevinthebird007 · 28/11/2022 21:26

@Deadringer I spoke to the police about it and apparently its 'civil' not 'criminal'. I even have a statement but they said that it wasn't a police matter.

OP posts:
Skidaramink · 28/11/2022 21:31

OP he sounds (in part) my like my father, a selfish, narcissistic, compulsive liar who is incapable of considering anyone’s feelings apart from his own. I cut all ties a few years ago and I don’t regret it at all.

He doesn’t care about you at all (I’m sorry, I know that’s hard to hear but if he did then he wouldn’t have done what he did). I wouldn’t have anything to do with a man like that. Respect and love is earned - it’s not an automatic right just because you are related.

AtrociousCircumstance · 28/11/2022 22:04

He’s nothing other than a toxic, destructive, selfish, nasty abuser.

Go NC. Do not expose your DC any longer to this ‘fun, goofy’ liar who has stolen their inheritance and reduced their opportunities.

JasperJohnsPaintbrush · 28/11/2022 22:58

Kevinthebird007 · 28/11/2022 21:20

@JasperJohnsPaintbrush I've just searched the registry and there is probate so I've ordered the document. Does probate mean there was a will?

I've just copied the following 2 statements from information online re wills. It seems that there may indeed be a will.

Probate will normally be necessary in the following circumstances: The deceased owned property. The deceased owned stocks or shares in their sole name. The deceased had money in their sole name

Do you need probate if there isn will?
When someone dies without a will they are said to have died 'intestate' and no one has immediate authority to act as their personal representative. Instead, one of their relatives needs to apply to the Probate Registry for a grant of letters of administration

JustGiveMeTwoMinutes · 29/11/2022 01:22

Hi OP I think its very likely your mum did leave a will but she left it with your dad and he is pretending it doesn't exist as it doesn't leave everything to him. He has therefore applied for the grant of letters of administration

Kevinthebird007 · 29/11/2022 07:03

I'm so confused. I've downloaded the probate cert says her estate was worth £53,k and net value of £46k. It also says dad has been appointed as administrator not executor. He told me he had been appointed as executor. There is no will, it says she died intestate. But i saw bank accounts with thousands in them. Why have they not included the shares and the pensions in that estate total?

OP posts:
Maggie178 · 29/11/2022 07:25

Your dad's doing what he's always done. Lie and defraud people. He's lied about the money. He's fiddled things so all the money goes to him regardless of your mum's will and wishes. Focus on you, your partner and children. That's your family that matter.

StarCourt · 29/11/2022 07:35

Op this will eat you up if you let it

Kevinthebird007 · 29/11/2022 07:46

I spent all of yesterday just sat on the sofa crying. I'm devastated. My mum was clear that money should come to us so we could buy a house. My husband has MS so we would have liked to buy somewhere where we can make adaptations he needs. I'm absolutely broken.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 29/11/2022 08:16

@Mrsroy2012
This is going to get a lot easier if you can just accept who this man is and act accordingly. There are no magic words that will fix him, there is nothing you can do, if you were a “better” daughter it wouldn’t change things.
He is a parasite, why doesn’t matter, that’s what he is and as far as he is concerned you are a useful resource and that’s all. He doesn’t love you, he can’t.
The sooner you accept that he isn’t a Dad like other people have and you aren’t going to get any money from him the better your life will be.

LadyEloise1 · 29/11/2022 08:20

@Mrsroy2012
I'm sorry to read you feel so low.
You need to get good legal advice.
I wouldn't have any communication with your father at the moment.
I'd also tell the solicitor about the interfering police officer. That's odd.

Kevinthebird007 · 29/11/2022 08:24

It's brought up all sorts of feelings of resentment towards my mum. I don't understand why she let things slide. I told her repeatedly as an adult that I didn't think his behaviour was right but she would just tell me that it was easier to just move on than dwell. The thought of leaving him was unthinkable to her. I'm angry that I've been left with this total car crash.

People always say how lovely my dad is, so friendly and funny and chatty with great stories to tell. I find it hard to admit to people what he's done.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 29/11/2022 08:43

You are angry at the wrong person

Gerwurtztraminer · 29/11/2022 08:56

@Mrsroy2012 All you can do now is let it go. It's hard to accept our parents have let us down, aren't the parents they should have been to us. You'll drive yourself mad questioning and analysing why they were/are the people they are. There is no 'why'.

Your mum is gone - she had her own reasons for clinging on to her misguided belief in your father. Your memories of the goofy fun Dad can co-existent with the knowledge of who he is really is. They loved you as much as they could in their limited ways.

It's time for you to move on and cut your father out of your life. Pursue the money only if you feel you can do that without being dragged back in to his dysfunctional world.

(FWIW my father was also the charming, life & soul of the party guy, but he did some pretty awful stuff all his life - also went to prison - that I found out as an adult. My mother made selfish life decisions that badly affected her kids. It's tough to come to terms with but life is easier once you do).

LadyEloise1 · 29/11/2022 09:02

Hoppinggreen · 29/11/2022 08:43

You are angry at the wrong person

This 100%

Franklyfrost · 29/11/2022 09:31

@Mrsroy2012 Mrsroy2012 · Yesterday 20:26
@Franklyfrost should I be pushing for a diagnosis? Or will they not do that at this age?

I don’t think there would be any point. Firstly, your father would have to be willing, which is unlikely. Secondly, it would take a lot of time and fighting for on the NHS. Thirdly, there’s no treatment which consistently has a significant impact.

If you feel your dad strongly fits the criteria then I think it would be really helpful for you to research antisocial personality disorder to understand your dad and work out how to deal with him because what works for other people wont work for him if he has antisocial personality disorder. It’s not a case of ‘poor dad he can’t help it’ and more ‘dad has different priorities to most other people and this will never change’.

Here’s the NHS link
www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/

Overandunderit · 29/11/2022 09:42

Pathologising this situation is not helpful. OP, my heart goes out to you that this has happened.

I think for your own wellbeing you completely cut off all ties. You gain nothing by maintaining any links with him, only pain. Having him in your life opens you and your family up to more deception and hurt.

Kevinthebird007 · 29/11/2022 09:44

The only question remaining for me is, if he meets someone, changes his will etc so I am no longer the beneficiary, what about my mother's things that are still in his possession which she wanted me to have. Do i just have to assume that I will never receive those things or have access to any of my possessions still at the house (nothing big, mainly sentimental stuff from my childhood)

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 29/11/2022 09:45

Kevinthebird007 · 29/11/2022 09:44

The only question remaining for me is, if he meets someone, changes his will etc so I am no longer the beneficiary, what about my mother's things that are still in his possession which she wanted me to have. Do i just have to assume that I will never receive those things or have access to any of my possessions still at the house (nothing big, mainly sentimental stuff from my childhood)

Seriously, just let it go.
Trust me it will be easier in the long run

thebabessavedme · 29/11/2022 10:38

Love I really think you should walk away from him, you have stated that the situation is making you ill, you are unhappy and totally stressed out.

Looking at your home life it looks like your plate is not just full, its overflowing! Concentrate on your children and your poorly husband, Your father has chosen his path, he didnt have to steal and lie and cheat you out of your inheritence but he did! he is now 'reaping what he has sowed', leave him to his sordid rent boys, never give him money (btw, what does your husband think of this?)

I do think you need some counselling to help you let go, this is not of your making but it will be if you chose to keep communicating with him.

Wishing you and your family a peaceful Christmas.

Soothsayer1 · 29/11/2022 11:15

I think that if you want to go after the money and find out what's happened to your inheritance you will have to to find some way to see this man ONLY as a con man who has exploited to you and completely shut off the part of you that still feels like his daughter.
I don't have the knowledge or expertise to try and tease apart what he has done but imo it will be a tangled web designed to draw people in so that he can exploit them. And that policeman who tried to warn you off ...well it sounds like he knows where some of the bodies are buried and is implicated in some of it?
I hope you can find some way to bypass or let go of the impulse to serve him and help him.
I would stand back and let his life unwind to its natural conclusion.... all his chickens come home to roost, you don't want any of them landing on you