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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Family feud and inheritance

157 replies

MellowPinkBee · Yesterday 20:47

I adore my brother. Approximately 33 years ago he married an incredibly insecure woman who came from an incredibly disfunctional family. Appalling manners, absolutely no idea how to behave and offended not only our family members but also our parents friends. We were continuously making excuses for her even though she was always such an embarrassment. Family gatherings were always tense to say the least but my parents and I always took the higher ground when she had her continuous digs to make herself feel better about herself. She was insanely jealous of my brothers relationship with our mother and she hurt my mother on so many occasions but my mother said nothing. About 26 years ago we had a family Christmas and she deliberately excluded my son who was about 3 at the time from a Christmas Eve occasion leaving cookies & milk for Santa. After new year, I let my brother know exactly how I felt about her and I was speaking for my parents too, particularly my mother. As a result my brother has not spoken a word to me until in 2023 my father died and my mother followed in 2024. My father’s Will split his estate 50/50 between my brother and I. I divorced my ex husband in 2022 and had to buy my ex out of his equity in the house. due to my age, late 50’s I was limited in the amount I could borrow so my father gave me the shortfall, £89,000. Now my brother is suggesting that I go against the Will and give him half of what my father gave me as that was my father’s intention. Please let me know what you think I should do

OP posts:
TheWorthyNewt · Today 11:03

LordFarquard · Today 00:12

It is WILD that you are making these sort of assumptions based on one paragraph of text.

You have absolutely no idea of what the OP or her brother did for their parents or what their relationship is truly like.

The OP needed bailing out - the brother didn’t. If anyone here sounds like a greedy chancer it’s the woman who received a big chunk of 100k a few months before receiving her inheritance.

There must be something very, very wrong with you if you are so confidently making these assumptions?

Pot and kettle? You just called the OP greedy? There's always one child in a family left to help the parents out and the rest are never seen until the parents die. Always. With your attitude I'd say your were never that person who helps out.......

MyMilchick · Today 11:16

MellowPinkBee · Yesterday 22:44

My father gave me the money about a year before he died. He wrote his Will about 10 days before he died because he knew he might not make it. My brother saw the Will and even though my father had a heart attack he still sent emails to him complaining about the Will. My father said in front of a doctor and 3 nurses “what I do with my money while I am alive is my own business, my Will is something else”

Well there's your answer then. Imagine saying that to your dad when he was sick in hospital! Fuck him just for that tbh

Sgreenpy · Today 11:22

Lmnop22 · Yesterday 20:59

Surely you’re now paying inheritance tax on this sum since he died within 7 years of giving you the money?

You dont automatically pay iht on any gifts with the 7 year rule. The gifts are just supposed to be included as part of the estate for probate. A married couple can leave up to £1m before any iht is due.

Soontobe60 · Today 11:26

MellowPinkBee · Yesterday 22:44

My father gave me the money about a year before he died. He wrote his Will about 10 days before he died because he knew he might not make it. My brother saw the Will and even though my father had a heart attack he still sent emails to him complaining about the Will. My father said in front of a doctor and 3 nurses “what I do with my money while I am alive is my own business, my Will is something else”

All the backstory is completely irrelevant. I’m very unclear as to why your DF, on his deathbed, changed his Will and left nothing to his wife!!!
You have failed to clarify if the money your parents gave you before they died was given as a loan or as a gift. If it was a loan, then it should have been included as a debt against your DFs estate when he died, and as such any other inheritors should receive their share.
If it was a gift then technically it’s your money. Personally I wouldn’t be able to keep it all from a moral point of view. How you feel about your SIL is completely irrelevant :

WhistPie · Today 11:47

@Soontobe60 I’m very unclear as to why your DF, on his deathbed, changed his Will and left nothing to his wife!!!

Quite understandable if she was already suffering from dementia or in a care home

FancyBiscuitsLevel · Today 12:07

@Soontobe60- my dad changed his will a while ago to leave everything to me and my brother, cutting out my mother, but then she was already in a care home with dementia. Her share of the house, her savings and shares and pensions etc were fair enough to go to the care fees but he wanted his share of their assets to come to us. (As it turned out, this wasn’t necessary as she suddenly took a turn for the worse and died before her personal savings ran out, he’s going strong.)

Another2Cats · Today 12:30

Soontobe60 · Today 11:26

All the backstory is completely irrelevant. I’m very unclear as to why your DF, on his deathbed, changed his Will and left nothing to his wife!!!
You have failed to clarify if the money your parents gave you before they died was given as a loan or as a gift. If it was a loan, then it should have been included as a debt against your DFs estate when he died, and as such any other inheritors should receive their share.
If it was a gift then technically it’s your money. Personally I wouldn’t be able to keep it all from a moral point of view. How you feel about your SIL is completely irrelevant :

"...and left nothing to his wife!!!"

What wife?

The OP mentioned that her mother died shortly after her father. She has not indicated that they were married.

If, for example, they were divorced then it would be very normal indeed for her father to leave nothing to his ex-wife.

You will note that the OP said that it was her father that gave her the money - not her parents.

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