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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Inexplicable behaviour from my sister

124 replies

LiteraryGoat · 23/02/2024 01:21

I am trying to get my head around this.
A bit of background - fairly average family, one sister 10 yrs older than me. Happy parents with ups and downs, good lifestyle, both treaded very similarly and fairy. No one neglected or over indulged. I am now 50 yrs old.

My father passed away 10 years ago, quite suddenly. My sister's behaviour became terrifying and manipulative, during those first few years she took over my mother's life entirely, from finance to care. My mother did not resist as was very depressed and never recovered from the loss of my father. I calmly tried to discuss this with both of them at the time but it was impossible. It was heartbreaking for me to watch my mother succumb to this as there was no history of anything quite like it in our lives.

After several years I had to walk away. My sister was abusing my mother daily, screaming in her face, checking her bins for what she had bought or thrown away, taking control of her home and sacking a gardener my mother needed. I sought counselling to deal with it and was told to notify social services. When my mother went into hospital with an infection I was informed that she was mentally sound so nothing could be done about my sister's abuse unless she reported it. None of this was physical abuse, to my knowledge. I had to watch this for years feeling helpless, whilst my sister drove me out of the way, even hiding my parent's will and blocking all phones.
The abuse involved cutting mum off from friends, dragging her to places she didnt want to go, screaming and shouting in public at her and humiliating her. I was so scared for my mum's safety that I almost shut down inside.

Eventually my mother passed away during the pandemic, I was living at a distance at that time, so the house sale was dealt with by solicitors and split between myself and my sister. We didn't have to meet.

Fast forward to 2021 my sister contacts me, seemingly a calm and friendly person, saying our mother had left a smallish cash inheritance she had in her account and wanted to give me my half. I very, very tentatively resumed contact, it was nice enough, and I think the death of my mother had numbed me to the trauma of the past.
Since then, I regret this.
It took her until last June to actually send the inheritance to my account. There was always an excuse, passed off with a giggle or faux ditziness. Then she moved to texting me morning till night, utterly dominating my time with senseless questions, ploughing through boundaries and then buying me expensive gifts when she realised I was pulling away. To cut a long and tedious story shorter, she told me this Xmas that my mother had left a box of letters addressed to me, stipulating that I was to receive them when she passed. These had been written from my childhood to her old age. I asked her why she had never given to me in the past 3 years we have been in contact and she changed the subject, but with utterly no shame, declared that she had read them all and that she would bring them when she thought it was 'appropriate' Shock

My Dh has hit the roof. Our surviving older relative was also told this and said her jaw dropped to the floor. I am certain that no contact is the only sensible option now, as the past few years have been a tremendous drain, but...

HOW the hell do I process the trauma of the memories that have returned that were numbed? All of the pain and horror of watching her hurt my mother, telling terrible lies (about cancer, work colleagues, etc)? Hearing about the letters was like a thunderbolt that cracked open my memories of her abuse, my body is so shaken. I am happy to pay for some therapy, but in the meantime I would so appreciate some pointers as how to safely get her out of my life.

OP posts:
LiteraryGoat · 24/02/2024 17:17

She's used those letters to open up your wounds.
Your grief has been reactivated to the forefront.
You deal with your own grief, in your own way but now it's brought everything up for you.

This has only just hit me. I never was able to grieve. My dad died suddenly after a short illness, which she had monopolised from the outset. I had never seen her behave like that before. She was extremely cruel to my mother, blaming her for his illness and tripping her up constantly. She even yelled at her in A&E and was asked to leave. I was so appalled that I told her this was unacceptable, so she immediately positioned me as an enemy.

In all of those years to come, both my mother and aunt just went along with it, her partner too. No one ever stood up to her or told her she was wrong or inappropriate. This, I suppose, was the problem.

On the night of his death we drove to my mother's house, you can imagine the shock and pain in those moments, only hours after he died. She screamed at my mother all through, harping on about having to get home, that she couldn't stay over. She then demanded that I stay there, slammed the door and drove off. I couldn't react because I was so utterly stunned and terrified for my mother's grief. I felt hunted from that moment, and for the next 5 years had to witness so much awful abuse. So no, I never got to grieve.

As dreadful as this all is, I am glad that this time has come, that I have to face the agony. As a previous poster said, I must end this here and not allow her to continue this line of toxicity in to the future.

At this very moment she won't know what she's done. She does not know that I have been processing the memories. That made me feel cruel initially, but my heart and gut do not trust her, and I want as far away as possible. This can't be undone now or turned back. She is currently in the midst of another lie that has gone on for several weeks (claiming her emails are broken so that she must constantly text me), so that can be enough of an excuse as i need to just walk.

OP posts:
pickledandpuzzled · 24/02/2024 17:31

The time has come. She may well ramp it up at the point she realises she’s losing you. If you don’t have ring doorbells you need to get them, and be prepared to use the police, lawyers letters, whatever it takes for her to realise she cannot continue to harass you.

There have been some shocking stories on here of women like this- a memorable one took over her daughter’s life, took over her home, changed the locks, contacted her work, did all sorts of weird stuff. Th OP ended up needing police involvement and support from her company as the DM had quite literally taken over her life.

Atethehalloweenchocs · 24/02/2024 19:27

I have written elsewhere about my cousin who is the closest relative to me in age - closer than my siblings. She has always been incapable of letting me have something of my own without muscling in, taking over, changing it in some way. Its like there is a huge hole inside her which she can never fill, and taking stuff from me is one way she tries. In the end I have had to cut off contact. It is really sad, and I hate family estrangement, but after years and years of misery, once my mum died (mum always felt sorry for her and encouraged us all not to give up on having a relationship with her), I just had to consider my MH and cut ties. It is much better.

LydiaPoet · 24/02/2024 19:45

LiteraryGoat · 23/02/2024 19:09

Ive only just got a new phone so can't afford another. I feel like im being followed by a hungry dog that wont let go. Even when she isnt there, it feels looming. I hate that i have let myself get this weak. If i dont feed the hungry dog i then wonder if i am being cruel , and on it goes.
Blocking will do for the time being. It is a relief.

Contact your provider and they will change the number. For free. Don’t give her the number or any mutual friends. Tell her before you change the number that you are having an issue with your phone and you and your DH are having a detox from phones and emails etc give her an email solely for her - and then you check on it with your DH - give him the password. And then block her on your phone and wats app etc and then change the number.

Your provider will change your number for free.

or …..
plan a visit take DH and calmly ask for the letters that you have Waited 3 years for - get DH to calmly apply pressure. Low voice lots of pauses. If she refuses tell her you are going to cut contact with immediate effect as she has stolen your property and is being manipulative and unreasonable and you have no trust left in her.

calmly repeat and then leave. Contact your mobile Provider and change the number and contact the police after sending a cease and desist letter. Letters can be returned via a local police station but no contact until she does. When she gives you the letters - no contact. She sounds absolutely unhinged.

do you have children?

LiteraryGoat · 24/02/2024 21:48

Ah, the emails are back now, suddenly fixed since i told her I didnt want this level of text communication. She will be furious as she will see this as me trying to get my own way when all i want is for her to fuck off and never speak to me ever again.
Forgive me mumsnet, i need to scream it somewhere.
My last message to her 2 days ago stated clear boundaries, saying I didnt want this level of chat and we could catch up in the future some time. She has just ploughed right through it.

I tried gently phasing out contact last year, sending short and closed responses to messages. It didn't work.

Since she is volatile i do not wish to just confront her and tell her to leave me alone forever. She has terrible form with that kind of thing and I just don't have it in me at the moment.

OP posts:
Andthereyougo · 24/02/2024 22:29

With the police called, your mum’s GP involved and witnessing your sister’s behaviour I don’t see there’s anything else you could have done.
Your sister sounds very bizarre, I don’t know if this is narcissistic, psychotic or something else but it’s bloody horrible.
If you’ve never seen a copy of your mum’s Will you can obtain a copy easily.
Some info here https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate
And cutting her out if your life is your number one priority.
I hope in time you’ll be able to grieve for your parents and find peace.

Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales)

Search online for a will, grant of representation or probate document for a death in or after 1858

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

nc42day · 24/02/2024 22:38

all i want is for her to fuck off and never speak to me ever again.

You can wait for her to do this, or you can do the fucking off and never speak to her ever again. I really feel that you'll be waiting forever if you're waiting for her to snap out of it and do the right thing, and you would be completely reasonable to carve out some peace for yourself from now on, you have been through more than enough already.

Porkfest · 24/02/2024 23:24

I would give the retrieval of the letters one carefully planned and executed shot.

Then I would walk.

These letters cannot be the stick she beats you with - your mother wouldn’t have wanted you to endure that.

Your Dsis will snare, sneer and entangle you in years of abuse around these letters if you allow her to.

That would be the gift from your mother - the message to walk away from abuse.

Grenola · 25/02/2024 00:55

Maybe it’s about doing nothing. I understand ur scared, hesitant, to lay your boundaries down to her. So, do nothing, don’t respond. Leave her unsanswered.

life is so short, don’t give her the power of controlling yours. Only focus on your reactions to her. Just simply don’t, freeze her out. Expect tantrums, escalations. But let her. Undone her: she has no power. She is only big and strong if u let her. Ignore, ignore ignore

x

MariaLuna · 25/02/2024 02:15

Hug from me OP, I have a weird sister but yours takes the biscuit!

RandomForest · 25/02/2024 02:26

So how often did you get to see your mother after your father died.

Did she keep you apart for long ?

It sounds terrible.

pikkumyy77 · 25/02/2024 02:52

LiteraryGoat · 23/02/2024 03:06

Oh thank you! I thought it was too late at night to solicit responses.
There were definitely some signs when we were young but she managed to treat me very well, taking it out on our parents. I only know this now thanks to an aunt confiding in me.
According to my aunt she was extremely angry when I was born, and whilst you'd think this was a typical sibling issue, she never grew out of it. According to my aunt, we were both treated the same and well loved.
My sister told me last year that my. mother neglected me until i was 5, that she had to 'bring me up as her own'. I personally know this is a lie, and thankfully have it corroborated. What a cruel thing to say.

I did occasionally hear her yelling with my parents when I was a child, saying 'why does SHE get so much, why is SHE so perfect'? But it only really materialised after my dad died when I was 40.

I have treated a patient with the same trauma: psychopathic sister. Outsiders may find it hard to grasp but it really happens and your sister sounds like a text book case. Please get therapy with someone familiar with narcissistic abuse. You need to be able to reflect and process these memories safely, to be believed, and to find a way to sever the relationship.

As for the letters they either don’t exist at all or will never be given to you.

LiteraryGoat · 25/02/2024 03:50

Thank you so very much, everyone. This all came back to me in a rush after a call to my aunt last week. It is as if I had numbed or taken myself out of the memories, so that I could still talk about them happening but could not 'feel' them.
The paragraph I wrote earlier about my sister shouting at my mum the night my dad died, has absolutely torn me open tonight. That was so unimaginably cruel that I couldn't speak at the time. How cold you deliver your mum to an empty house 2 hours after her loss and scream about your needs? There is no humanity there, it is like a cold and hungry void.

I am considering a local counselling service for domestic issues, they helped me enormously to get free all those years ago, so am hoping they're still going.

Thank you for the links, and support. It is an odd thing but hearing strangers consolidate this for me is very helpful. Need sleep now, but thank you again.

OP posts:
pikkumyy77 · 25/02/2024 04:14

Be very gentle with yourself. These are very traumatic memories you are experiencing. I am so sorry this is happening. Lean on your DH, continue to block and avoid her. That is all you can do. She can change her tactics but she can’t change her nature. She will continue to try to abuse you so don’t give her the chance. Avoid , block, ignore, and grey rock.

Porkfest · 25/02/2024 07:34

As for the letters they either don’t exist at all or will never be given to you.

I agree with this. They are both a trap and and a weapon. They are her power to play with you and subjugate you.

GimmeGin · 25/02/2024 09:41

BelindaOkra · 24/02/2024 04:51

I’d give the letters one go - with DH. If she won’t give them then I would let it go and book a shed load of therapy to cope with never having seen them.

As others have said they are being used to wield power - you can take that away - at a cost - by letting them go.

But a visit from dh threatening legal action may be enough for her to hand them over.

Edited

Agree. One try at getting the letters. Don’t let her use these as a stick to beat you with for years to come.

wishing you a peaceful life in the near future.

LiteraryGoat · 25/02/2024 13:49

I have noticed that she tells my aunt about everything when she calls her - the letters, the money, etc, but generally leaves out details of her own deceits. My aunt is horrified at recently learning that I do not still have the letters, my sister even proudly told her she had read them, as if this is the most natural thing in the world.

Considering this, and the power those letters seem to have over HER (never mind me!), I have wondered whether to use them as a final cause to end contact with a firm and fast boundary. That I might send one final email telling her that I can't get past the issue of them not having been returned, to drop them with my DH when I am at work and to not contact me again.
She may not bother to return them, but she will be aware that we all know she is withholding them, and she won't like that. She has created a trap for herself but announcing it, that's my point.

Either this, or an email asking her to please stop contact as I have begun to deal with memories from that time and am no longer comfortable communicating.
Both of these are exact and give her no wiggle room to contact me again unless she is prepared to harass me, in which case she would find it very difficult as we are moving out of the area in 6 months.

I am still considering this so not certain yet. I may very well just continue to block and give no explanation.

OP posts:
dapsnotplimsolls · 25/02/2024 14:04

She won't hand over the letters or will hand over some and use the rest to hold over you. I suggest you tell her DH will be calling round at her house at x time on y day to collect the letters. If she's not there, refuses to hand them over etc, you need to accept you'll never see them and move on. Please get counselling to help you deal with everything. Do NOT tell her you're struggling, don't give her any ammunition.

LiteraryGoat · 25/02/2024 14:07

I understand. But she would not, under any circumstances, even answer the door to him. And even if she did, she would claim that they were buried under stuff in the spare room (she has already said this) and it would take her days to sort out. I realise he could say he will callback, but I am not sure. I think that would be more likely to make her escalate badly than the other plans. Will give it some thought.

OP posts:
pikkumyy77 · 25/02/2024 14:14

Never let her know that you are withdrawing contact because she hurt you. That delights her.

Tell her you have consulted with everyone (vague) and they are all in agreement that her conduct over the letters has been vile so you are cutting her off. Don’t make a request that she stop contacting you because that gives her too much power. Just tell her you won’t be accepting contact from her. Then block where you can, bounce back/auto reply where you can, and refuse engagement where she gets around your defenses.

LiteraryGoat · 25/02/2024 14:16

pikkumyy77 · 25/02/2024 14:14

Never let her know that you are withdrawing contact because she hurt you. That delights her.

Tell her you have consulted with everyone (vague) and they are all in agreement that her conduct over the letters has been vile so you are cutting her off. Don’t make a request that she stop contacting you because that gives her too much power. Just tell her you won’t be accepting contact from her. Then block where you can, bounce back/auto reply where you can, and refuse engagement where she gets around your defenses.

This is excellent, thank you, I see exactly what you mean.

OP posts:
LiteraryGoat · 25/02/2024 14:59

I have a confusing update.
I texted my aunt to clarify that my sister had told her she had read the letters.
Her reply said that my sister had never mentioned the letters to her at all.

Now this is so very confusing because it was my aunt who brought them up on our call last week. These sudden shifts have happened before and I have no idea what to think. My aunt is lovely but has always stuck by my sister, even whilst saying her behaviour is deplorable.
In her text she advised me to ask for them and if they are refused to report her.

I can 100% swear she mentioned knowledge of them and my sister telling her she had read them. Unless I am losing my bloody mind. I have no idea what to think, but ultimately it changes nothing.

OP posts:
dapsnotplimsolls · 25/02/2024 15:09

Your aunt is presumably telling you what your sister has told her to tell you. Yet another reason to cut contact.

Porkfest · 25/02/2024 15:11

Your aunt is taking herself out of the firing line / triangulation but is also encouraging you to escalate something that she supposedly knows nothing about?

I would have a detailed plan of your next steps. I would tell her that you are stopping contact with her but I wouldn’t tell her why - and I would inform her that any more than two further attempts to contact you directly or indirectly constitutes stalking and harassment and you will report her to the police

https://www.stalkingawareness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LE-Tips-Identifying-SLII-Stalking-Behaviors.pdf

https://www.stalkingawareness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LE-Tips-Identifying-SLII-Stalking-Behaviors.pdf

LiteraryGoat · 25/02/2024 15:20

I have been here before. In my counselling before I cut contact with all 3 of them in 2017, we established that my aunt was a part of the problem. A small one, but still important.
She alternated between solid support and just utterly throwing me to the wolves. One the one hand she acknowledged the abuse and spoke to me confidentially about it, then on the other acted as if that convo had never happened at all. After me blocking my sister and telling me I was wise to do so, she would then chase me to do my sister's bidding.
I felt as if I was going crazy on many occasions so this really feels like a blast from the past. I often felt as if i had a 'witness', and then ..poof!

In her defense, there is a very tiny chance that I mentioned the letters to her a while ago, but I can honestly say that this is NOT what she told me on the phone last week. I have no memory of telling her about them prior.

It might be wise for me to simply leave aunt out of it now. I just thanked her for the text and said no more.

OP posts:
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