I Refuse to Share My Inheritance With My Sister—She Doesn’t Deserve a Penny of It
Families always say, “money doesn’t change anything”, until someone dies and a will shows up. When our dad passed, I thought the hardest part would be grieving; turns out it was dealing with my sister, who suddenly claimed she’d been “left with nothing” and that I owed her half of everything. I was this close to giving in…until I found something hidden in Dad’s room.
When our dad passed away, he left his only house to me. My sister wasn’t mentioned in the will at all. She called me in tears, begging me to split the inheritance because “we’re sisters, after all”. I honestly planned to give her half. But later that day, while going through Dad’s things, I found a letter he’d hidden. That’s when everything made sense.
He had already paid off her enormous credit card debt, $80,000, just six months before he died. In the letter, he explained that she’d promised to turn her life around and stop depending on him, so he left her out of the will to help her finally become self-sufficient.
At first, I felt a mix of relief and guilt. Part of me wanted to tell her everything right away, just to show I wasn’t being selfish. But then I kept thinking, if I give her half the house now, am I just undoing what Dad was trying to teach her?
This isn’t really about the house or money; it’s about trust and letting her handle her own life. I still don’t know how to explain it to her without causing a fight. What would you do in my shoes?
— Evelyn
