Estranged brother contacted me on LinkedIn. ..

[meikyo]

I have had NC for almost 10 years. He behaved very badly during our DM illness and did not attend her funeral. He had drug and alcohol issues for several years before. He went to her house between her death and funeral and took all items of value... but could not be bothered to come to the funeral. I got a request via LinkedIn out of the blue today...unsure whether to ignore. Prior to DM passing he and I rarely saw each other..have v different lives and his drug/alcohol issues and general selfishness was a problem between us.

Respond even if only briefly. For your sake if not his, as if something did happen and you had ignored him you would probably feel terrible.

OP, I fell out with a brother because he didn't come along to our dad's funeral. In my eyes his reasons were selfish, motivated by his alcoholism, with the latter hindering any real reconciliation because each time we spoke and arranged to meet/clear the air, he would follow this up with a drunken message. Anyway, 18 months later I was visiting him in intensive care and he died a few weeks later. I still think that his behaviour around the time of my fathers death was completely out of order but I do wish we'd made amends and got passed it (to a degree - I accept that our relationship would have been largely directed by alcoholism) before it was too late. This is not to undermine you, or any others who choose to go NC. Its a very personal decision, one that is further complicated by issues of addiction. Good luck OP x

Oh. I hope it goes well. Best of luck.