Nothing Like an Inheritance to Bring Out the Worst in People

[gremcint]

my dad has a wooden chess set made for blind people that I have called dibs on, and I'm also taking his chair, he has one of those motorized armchairs that recline with a motor and is the most comfortable chair ever. aside from that I don't know.

[AnqeiicDemise]

My dad's brothers conspired against my dad and hid the newest last will and testament. (They also paid off a lawyer and a judge as to have them look the other way and accept an older copy). The company my father was to receive was run to the ground, pretty much. Never saw a penny of what his father had promised him.

Not that my father ever missed it.

He got angry and hurt but in the end decided it was not worth his time, nor what little money he had left, to contest the will.

And you know what? I'm glad. All my cousins from his side of the family are spoiled rotten, EW, self-centered snotmonsters. Their children are WORSE and*none* of them know how to make their money work for them.

Last I heard, one of my cousins lost her mansion, ferrari and other stuff since she had so much debt. This woman had the gall to come up to my father and ask him for help after she had laughed in his face for being poor. -eyeroll-

[BookstoreEscapee]

Supposedly, my grandmother had jewelry that was supposed to be left to me in my grandfather's will (my grandmother died ten years before I was born, and my grandfather died when I was six), but my mom's stepmonster didn't make a point of actually passing it on to me.... I don't think it was anything of great monetary value, but still...

I don't know why he wanted me, specifically, to have it, especially since I have older female cousins who would have known him better (I don't even remember him), unless there was other stuff to be left to them as well.

[AnqeiicDemise]

There's something I do want to fight when I go back to my home country, though. When my Gammy passed she left me a picture and left very *detailed* instructions it was to be given to me along with a topaz ring I always admired. I think my mom was too distraught to bring these back with her when she came back from the funeral or if my aunt was being too much of a bitch.

I can see both cases happening. lol.

As far as my parent's will. Oh boy. I sense a lot of fighting in the future. Since I'm the youngest and have just started on my 'life journey', like Papa calls it, they're leaving me the biggest chunk of their assets. Frankly? I don't care. All I want are the black and white albums of my parent's youth/times with the kids. My folks mentioned these albums and said they were mine at the last family gathering; I got dirty looks from my brother but like I told him -- being that I was the last child born, so late in my parent's life, I deserve to have snapshots of a time that was never mine. My siblings, my brother especially, enjoyed the youth of my parents the most. He played catch with my father, rough housed with my mother, hell, they all went horeseback riding together and other fun stuff. I got none of that. All I ever did was admire the black and white depictions on film of a time I never had with them.

I never knew what it felt like to be carried around on my Papa's shoulders or crawled around on the floor with my mom, playing wild games and such. Its part of the reason I want to have kids before I'm forty and I want to be in good shape to goof around with my kids.

And hell, with today's technology, I can make them copies of the pictures my siblings want the most. I mean, my folks already have done that with their wedding portrait (it was a replication of the original using passport pictures as the original was burnt in a house fire) and each kid has their own. I just want the originals because *I* have been the one who has fawned over them over the years. I'm the one who has taken these pictures to be restored and fixed when they were damaged and put them into albums, period.

Anything else? They can take. I dont' want it.

[wagegoth]

My selfish, psycho stepgrandmother (SPS) helped screw up her inheritance. One of her brothers (one of six kids) married a woman with two siblings, when in their 60s, after both were widowed. The new couple made up their will very simply. Whoever survived the other would get everything. Upon the surviving spouse's death, the estate would be evenly divided between the surviving siblings in both families.

The wife died first, leaving SPS's brother to inherit everything. A year or so later, he died. SPS and siblings decided that all the money should be theirs. The estate was large enough that even after taxes each of the seven siblings would have received about $100,000 each. But SPS and siblings decided they wanted the other $200,000. They contested the will. They lost. After attorneys' fees, they each received $40,000.

The pimp hand of karma strikes again. (Thank you to whoever on this board came up with that phrase.)

[CaroPhoenix]

My In-Laws live in a house in the "country" (down in Charlottesville in Virginia).

They are trying to re-model the house to their liking. (They're going to live there until they die, so why not?, right?)

BIL #1 and BIL#2 (along with their wives) complain every time the In-Laws say they've done this that and the other thing to their house.

The reason they complain? The money the In-Laws are using are supposed to be for the brothers! It's their inheritance! Their parents can't use up their inheritance! (And these "grown men" are serious).

I've told my parents, as long as they leave enough $$ to cover the funeral costs/whatever else is needed, they can spend their money any way they want and if they have nothing else left over to give me, I wouldn't care. (I only want a ring my mother wears constantly). My sister feels the same way.

[AdminAssistant]

My sister and I will be fighting over who has to take what. There are a few things I want: my great-grandmother's sewing machine (it's nearly 100 years old), some of Mom's jewelry, an old-fashioned clock, a few things from the kitchen, and one or two of Dad's toy tractors. There's plenty of stuff with sentimental value to be split between the two of us. I've even told her that she could take the lion's share since she has children to leave it to, and I most likely won't.

Dad has enough of a life insurance policy to put both of them in the ground when the time comes, but not much more. And that's fine.

[Jester]

This woman had the gall to come up to my father and ask him for help after she had laughed in his face for being poor.

Karmic Bitch Slap, thou art awesome!

[Misty]

All too often, people see an inheritance as a "right" instead of a "privilege." That is, just because your father/mother/grandmother is wealthy, they don't *have* to leave you jack shit. They could leave you a penny, and give their entire estate to charity I've always seen it as "if I get something nice, fine. If I don't, it's not the end of the world."

Well said! I agree completely. My grandfather worked hard his entire life, invested wisely, lived within his means, and allowed himself few luxuries aside from a country club membership and a new Cadillac every 3 years (he'd trade in his old one for the newest model).

He was always very generous with his family. When I was a kid he would take the whole family on vacation every 2 years. When each of the grandkids turned 30, he gave us any gift we wanted (I got a trip to Italy, while my sister opted for diamond earrings). When he and my grandmother got old and sick, he had more than enough money to pay for their care; my mom and aunts never had to dip into their own savings.

Bottom line, he doesn't owe his kids or his grandkids anything, but he's still taking care of the family because that's just the kind of man he was. That's why all the fighting pisses me off so much.

[Aethian]

My GrandMother had two wedding bands, a small cheap one made by a local person in town back in the 1920's and one from Greenland where Grandpa served in WWII. When I was little there would be Grandma/Granddaughter time and she who show me her jewelry box. Always the first locket Grandpa got her and both her weddings bands she said were to be mine. That I would find as much happiness in them as she had been given.

My Aunts took the jewelry and haven't given it up. Both are in poor health now and I think it's a bit of karma. Every time I ask for those items that were promised to me...the ones who took them and won't give them back have something else happen to them health or financial wise. I'm starting to wonder if they even have them anymore.

[protege]

My grandfather, who died about 20 years ago, was always generous with his family. He'd worked hard, and had no debt. To him, "debt" was a dirty word...and most of his things were paid for in cash...including the house and cars. What money they had left over, went towards their kids. It used to drive my grandmother nuts, that when he bought a riding mower (their yard was huge!) he bought a top-of-the-line-model...while she had to make do with an old wringer-washer

Before he died, one of his wishes, was to see that all of his grandkids attended college, or some sort of higher learning. As such, he set up small trust funds for each of us--10 in all. 20 years on, I think I'm the only one who still has it. Not all of it, since I had to borrow on it for home repairs. But, the rest has been carefully set aside...

The one thing I wouldn't have minded getting...would have been the farm--all 80 acres of it. Grandma said that had I been the only grandchild, it probably would have been given to me. However, with other people to consider, to do that now really wouldn't have been fair. That was why it was sold, and the funds set aside for Grandma's care.

Before it was sold though, Grandma said each family member could have a piece of furniture or two. Dad took the large coat rack. This thing, came from someone's garage sale--it's huge. Not only can you hang coats on it, but there's a large mirror and bench as well. My mother got the round table from the family room, since it matched the table in her kitchen. I got very lucky--I came away with the 1940s-style dining room suite, the 1950s-style (grey Formica/chrome) kitchen set, Grandpa's beat-up green recliner (aka "the kitty chair"), console TV, and several other things...which nobody wanted. Oh, and I also grabbed the 1930s "green dishes" and most of the artwork, including the fake Van Gogh

But, my aunt hit the ceiling when she found out that I'd been given my late grandfather's jazz records. Grandma had actually given them to me years ago--I'd cleaned them up, and carefully stored them at my house. Why was my aunt pissed? Well, my cousin had been given the hi-fi, and she thought he should have the records as well. Never mind that said hi-fi had been broken since about 1970...

On Dad's side, there really wasn't much squabbling over family items in 2001. My other grandfather died that year. Not much money/property involved, simply because they weren't wealthy. Was I upset that all I got was some of my grandfather's tools? Of course not.

Now, when my parents are gone...there's nothing I really want. Well, other than my father's sports car (which I already have) and possibly his stamp collection, and maybe some of my mother's recipes

[draftermatt]

Thankfully I have a small family.

When my Paternal Grandmother died in 2006 (7 years after my Paternal Grandfather) everything was left equally between my father and aunt. No one was upset about what they got or didn't get. I got the car, my cousin the furniture, etc.

The only argument was between my Dad & I when I mentioned that I didn't want to see my cousins get EVERYTHING as they had come down to the house and taken some stuff, and I hoped that they would let us know first as we would do with them when things were taken out. He got pissed at me and said he'd sell it all, so I had to calm him down.

My Maternal grandmother has 2 sons and an adopted daughter (my mother). My Uncles have no children, only step children and none of them ever thought my grandmother as a grandmother (my grandfather died in 1986 and left everything to my grandmother).

She's not dead, but living in a nursing home with Dementia. We've finally got the house cleaned out and up for sale to pay for her care. My eldest uncle has disappeared so he's gotten nothing.

My other Uncle only asked for a few things which my mother set aside for him (he lives in Boston) but he knew better than to ask/complain too much since we were doing all the work.

Oddly enough the only hurt feelings were my brother in law. He wanted m grandfather's Smith & Wesson, but I took it. He keeps asking me if I'm "tired of it". We all just kind of took what we wanted, but my sister and I would call each other a lot of times.

Hell we had my wife's sister walk through the house and she took a truck load of stuff for her new house.

[mandaliz8704]

I had a whole long post typed out about what I've been going through since my grandmother died, but screw it. Whining about it isn't going to change the fact that I wasn't even "allowed" to be at her funeral. I was told there wasn't going to be one, and found out later that there was. The fact that I didn't get the ring I was promised (evidently it was sold) is just the knife in the back.

[Mr. Rager!]

I absolutely hate people who wait for their own family to die so they can gain from it.

My Opa isn't my blood grandparent. I've known him all my life. My real grandfather lived in Alaska. Recently died (December, I think) My dad called me and told me, I didn't know what to say. I never met the man. He sent me and my brother tourist tapes on Alaska every Christmas. I don't even think I've seen a picture of the man. I felt nothing. His will did leave something small for me and my brother, we chose not to accept it.

My Opa on the other hand has been a part of my life. His real daughter is practically just itching for him to die. My grandparents own a lot of river front property. They live in a nice house. It's a modest house for the neighborhood. Considering houses in there area start at about $2M (and that's for a shack, with 50ft of river front). My grandparents (Oma and Opa) have 150ft of river front property. Well, my Opa's real daughter told him to tear down the house and just build a new one. She's already come over to his house with a few ideas of what the new house should be. My Opa keeps telling her they are not touching their current house.

My Opa also likes to collect cars. He has a grand total of 8 real high-end cars. then he also has several antique cars. 3-4 motorhomes........ I can't remember anymore. She pretty much thinks she's getting all those. She already said that her husband can have this one white Mercedes. (Don't know the model, it's just referred to as the white Mercedes).

Thing is, my dad is executor 1 and I'm executor 2. We've both been told that she gets no more than $1. She will be in the will, but it will be for $1.

I really can't stand people's greed. Yeah, money is awesome but family always takes 1st.

[Rapscallion]

Thing is, my dad is executor 1 and I'm executor 2. We've both been told that she gets no more than $1. She will be in the will, but it will be for $1.

Revenge is said to be a dish best served cold. Sounds like it's being served as an aperitif!

Rapscallion, approving