One of the harshest reality checks in life is that you can’t choose your family. If you’re lucky, you have people around you who love and care for you no matter what. Others, however, aren’t so fortunate and are dealt much harder cards.
Sometimes, life throws a curveball that shocks you to your core, and that’s exactly what happened to today’s narrator. She suddenly found herself in an unexpected verbal battle over inheritance money she didn’t even know existed, from a father she hadn’t heard from in decades. On the bright side, her life has likely changed for the better, so here’s what happened.
Read more: Reddit
Relatives may cause trauma, but we must remember that they are also just humans trying to live in this world
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After being abandoned by her dad, a woman suddenly got the news that he was gone, and left her his estate
Image credits: benzoix / Freepik (not the actual photo)
She then got a call from her dad’s girlfriend, accusing her of not being deserving of the inheritance
Image credits: shurkin_son / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The daughter then discovered they were never married to begin with, and that the step-mom didn't want her in the family
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Ultimately, the daughter had to seek a lawyer as she felt bad for not giving them any money, and for now owning their house
Can you imagine going your entire life resenting your dad for abandoning you, and then suddenly receiving, from him, an amount of money that could actually make your life a lot more comfortable? Neither can we, but that’s the whirlwind of emotions our original poster, a 21-year-old woman, had to process out of nowhere.
As she tells it, her dad allegedly struggled with substance use and left her and her mom when she was just 3 years old. After she lost her mom, the OP went to live with her grandmother. Years later, her dad reached out to reconnect, though, unbeknownst to the 21-year-old, he was battling pancreatic cancer. Not long after, he was gone, leaving everything to his only biological daughter: the OP.
This “everything” included enough money to ensure she could graduate college debt-free, take out smaller loans in the future if needed, and even inherit his house. However, his “wife” suddenly contacted the OP upon realizing that all he had left her and her children was $100 each. She believed she deserved more for being with him, while his daughter was not, despite it being his fault.
The OP was understandably upset at the woman, not only for experiencing the best parts of a father she never truly knew, but also for pressuring her for money, which is essentially the only thing she ever received from him in 21 years. Apparently, the two weren’t even legally married, meaning the woman had no grounds to contest the inheritance in the first place.
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Legally speaking, the woman isn’t even entitled to anything that isn’t in a written contract or will, according to legal experts. In most U.S. states, when someone doesn't have a will, their estate typically goes to their next of kin, whether that’s a parent, sibling, or child. In this case, however, there was a will clearly stating that the inheritance should go entirely to the OP.
That said, her attempt to contest the will isn’t entirely surprising. According to the OP, the woman hadn’t worked in six years and had been relying on the man’s savings to support her lifestyle. Disputes like this are also fairly common, almost routine in legal circles. Turns out, tens of billions of dollars in U.S. property are currently tied up in inheritance-related disputes alone, according to statistics. Surprise, surprise.
So while the OP is already involving a lawyer, what can she realistically expect? According to Forbes, contesting a will requires both legal standing and valid grounds, neither of which seem to apply in this situation. All things considered, the 21-year-old made a smart move by hiring a lawyer, especially given that she doesn’t feel comfortable evicting the family outright.
Netizens agree that she’s already giving them more grace than many would. After all, guilt-tripping a grieving, albeit estranged, daughter is intense enough, but demanding money on top of that crosses a line for many readers. So, what do you think the OP should do? Share part of the inheritance with her father’s family, or keep it as a way of accepting his final gesture of love? Let us know below.
Netizens were quick to defend the woman for not wanting to give away the money to people she didn’t even know
