After Husband’s Death, Widow Creates a Secret Will to Cut Off One of Her Children from Inheritance

Years after her father's death, a girl's mother planned on splitting the inheritance unevenly between her children. Her mother planned to cut off her sister and wanted to give most of the estate to her.

She felt confused and didn't know what to do next. Accepting her mother's decision meant she had to be selfish and leave nothing for her sister.

The woman barely stayed in touch with her sister, and keeping the estate to herself meant she would have to cut all ties with her sister too. She wrote a Reddit post, asking other Redditors for advice.

The woman with the Reddit username __shouldi__ shared that her father had passed away 25 years back. After his death, her parents' real estate got split three ways between the woman, her sister, and her mother. She explained:

"Since my dad's passing the situation is that my mother is the executor of the property for life and we all share ownership, each with 33%."

The real estate was worth $1-2 million, so OP (Original Poster) would get, at the very least, $333,000 if they split it evenly, pegging the value of inheritance at the worst case at $1 million. However, OP's mother had decided to split the inheritance unevenly.

OP shared that her sister's relationship with her parents wasn't the best, especially with her mother. Their turbulent relationship made OP's mother change the decision of splitting the estate evenly.

She explained what would happen in the worst case.

Thus, five years after her husband's death, OP's mother secretly wrote a will, stating that OP would inherit 66% of the estate from her and would have complete control of the property. She got it notarized and signed by witnesses to prevent OP's sister from inheriting more of the estate.

OP confessed that she knew about the secret will from the beginning but never thought about it until recently when her mother's health deteriorated. She explained why she felt terrible for her sister:

"My sister has literally nothing of her own - she won't be able to live in any dignity on any social security. And more importantly one of my nephews is disabled"

Her disabled nephew depended on her mother, and she believed he would need support in the future. For her nephew's financial security and comfort, OP wanted to leave her property to him.

If OP acted on her will, she would buy her sister out and get 66% of the estate. She believed that would be much better for her financially. She explained what would happen in the worst case:

"Worst case I'm looking at 666k which I could certainly do. Leave the property to my nephew and he would have a place to live."

After explaining everything in her post, she asked other Redditors for advice. Instead of telling OP what to do next, most Redditors asked her for more details.

OP updated her post, explaining why her mother wanted to cut her sister off. OP was the "favored sibling" because of past events, and her mother felt that her sister had enough chances to redeem her reputation, but she did not.

Some users also asked why OP's sister wasn't doing well financially. She explained that her sister frequently switched jobs, adding:

"It's not that she's a bad person, it just seemed like she's terrible with money and has a victim mentality supplemented with boasting about her accomplishments which are few and far between."

OP feared that if her sister got her share in the inheritance, she would spend all the money, and her nephew wouldn't get anything. She also shared that the inheritance money was a bonus since she was doing very well financially.

However, she felt her sister was relying on the inheritance money. OP also asked her mother if the will was still valid, to which she sternly replied that it was.

After reading the post, a Redditor replied that OP's mother had the right to distribute the estate according to her wishes. However, OP had the option to give it to her sister or her nephew.

The Redditor also asked OP to look at the situation from her mother's point of view. The user shared that her mother didn't want her sister to get the money because she feared it would add to her problems. dreadedmonky replied:

"Retain ownership. You'll regret it if you don't. What happens when your sister falls out with you?"

OP replied, saying that was possible and believed the management/ownership structure would decide what would happen next. Meanwhile, most Redditors asked OP to respect her mother's wishes and follow what the will says.

Questions to Ponder:

If you were OP, would you share your inheritance with your sister?

OP couldn't decide if she should share her inheritance with her sister. Most Redditors asked her to follow the will, but she worried about her nephew more than her sister. What would you do if you were in OP's place?

Do you think OP's mother made the right decision by splitting the estate unevenly?

OP's mother wanted to give most of the estate to her and decided to leave nothing of her share to OP's sister. Some people might think her decision was wrong, that she shouldn't have cut off her daughter based on past events. What do you think? Was her decision justified?

If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like this one about an old widower who left a $5.4 million inheritance to a woman who wasn't one of his six children.

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