Reddit Stories - BETRAYED GUARDIANS EMBEZZLED My Life Savings for Sibling's Luxury Home_

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #betrayal #guardianship #embezzlement #siblings #luxuryhomeSummary: In a heartbreaking tale shared on Reddit, a person reveals how their guardians betrayed them by embezzling their life savings to fund their sibling's lavish home. The emotional turmoil and sense of betrayal are palpable in this personal account.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, betrayal, guardianship, embezzlement, siblings, luxuryhomeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Guardians took my $100,000 university savings to purchase a residence for my privileged sibling, and they chuckled at me when I warned of legal action, questioning what funds I could use. Did this to make them beg. I, 17F, am supposed to start college four months from now, but the college fund that my grandparents had left me, my parents are refusing to hand over that money so they can help my older sister Chloe, 25F, get a house with her boyfriend Tom, 27M. Chloe has always been very special to my parents for some reason and I have always been treated

very differently in comparison to her. When I was younger, it didn't really strike me as odd that Chloe, in spite of being older than me, was always being coddled by our parents, but I was expected to deal with stuff on my own. But as I got older, I started to realize that they clearly had their priorities in order and I was always going to come second to her. I made my peace with that eventually, because it's not like I had a choice since we were not really close to any of our other family members. Both my parents had families in different states, and we rarely ever saw these people, including my grandparents. However, I knew for a fact

that my paternal grandparents had pooled up money to fund my college education. My grandfather passed away around three years ago and last year, I also lost my grandmother. According to the joint will that had been left, my grandparents had decided that it would only be executed after both of them had passed away and so, we found out last year that they had left a bunch of money to me for my college fund. It's not like they hadn't left anything to my parents or my sister. My parents received their entire estate and my sister got all the jewelry and it was all really expensive. My grandparents liked to live well, so whatever we received, I think the division of their assets was fair enough because I got the money and everybody else got other stuff that they

could sell and get the same kind of money. However, since I'm not 18 yet, I wouldn't be able to receive my share and they had entrusted my parents with it. I don't blame them for that, of course, they had no idea what was going to happen. They didn't even know that my parents were not the kind of people that they portrayed themselves to be, because, in front of friends and family, they always acted like we were one big happy family. But it was just me who knew the truth, that they definitely preferred Chloe over me and no matter how much they acted like everything was great, that was not how it actually was. So naturally, my grandparents had no doubt that my parents would do the right thing and I never thought that it would be worth it to discuss my home life with anybody, so they couldn't have found out about my bad relationship with them either.

Anyway, my parents had been put in charge of the trust until I turned 18 and they decided to use that to their advantage and take the money away from me, just so they could help their daughter pay for a house. I did not even find out about it until recently when I asked my parents about the funds because I had already started applying to colleges and soon enough. I would have to cough up the money so I could confirm my spot in whichever college I would get into. At first, they kept telling me that they would talk to me about it when it was time for me to go to college, but I could relax for now. Somehow, I kept getting this feeling that there was something that they were not telling me, so I kept pestering them and eventually, they told me that they had transferred all the funds to my sister since she was in the process of buying a home with her boyfriend and she needed the money. For context, Chloe is a kindergarten teacher and her boyfriend is a

zookeeper so their budget isn't a lot, but for some reason, they think that they should go for a very fancy kind of house in a nice neighborhood because it's a lifetime investment for them. In my personal opinion, if they can't afford a house right now, they should just stick to the rented apartment that they live in and maybe when they have saved up enough money on their own, they can start thinking about buying a house and committing to a lifetime investment, but since they cannot afford it. I think it's ridiculous for them to be taking the money that rightfully belongs to me. Obviously, I lost my temper when my parents told me what they had done and I told them that I needed the money back instantly, and I wouldn't rest until I knew that all the funds had been returned.

I remember the figure that my grandparents' lawyer had quoted and I even have it written down somewhere. I'm not going to mention the exact figure, but it was quite a sum and it would have been enough to get me through college and cover all the basic expenses. At first, I started crying and then I threw a huge tantrum that day. I fought with them, I even cursed at them, but nothing seemed to make a difference. They told me that they were well aware of what they had done and they had no regrets because Chloe needed that money right now and it would be unfair for me to not have to work my way through college like the rest of them. So I had to pay my dues and they were not going to allow my grandparents

to let me live my life on easy mode because that would be a slap in the face for Chloe, who had to take out a student loan. I thought all of it was just crazy and I even tried to explain it to them, but they did not care. If any of you guys are thinking that my grandparents did leave a lot of stuff to Chloe and them in the will as well, I did try bringing it up with them. I even tried to tell them that she could sell some of that stuff to get some extra money for her house, but just handing over the funds meant for me to her was a slap in the face for me. However, I should have known better than to waste my time trying to reason with them

because all that they said was that it was already done now and they were not going to ask for the money back. I was really upset and the way they were acting like this was no big deal. They were being so nonchalant about this whole thing that towards the end, I started cursing them out, and I even said that I was going to sue them. And I definitely had the grounds to file a suit against them because they had been trusted with the duty of keeping that money safe until I turned 18 and then I could utilize it, but here they were completely wasting it. When I said that, my parents just started laughing, and they asked me and I quote, with what money? And I don't think I had ever felt more humiliated in my entire life than I did in that single

moment, because it just reminded me of how powerless I was since I was so dependent on them. I also started regretting never having spoken to anybody else in the family about how they had treated me their entire lives simply because I did not think it was that much of a big deal. It's not like they used to be violent. They were just emotionally distant from me, and also because I didn't want to come back home and suffer even more for having spoken up. But then, I started thinking about how things might have been different and my grandparents might not have trusted my parents

if they had known how they actually were with me. After that last argument and the way they had taunted me, I decided that I was going to leave because I had had enough. It's not like I didn't have any money at all. I had been working part-time at a store, so I had been saving for the last couple of months and I decided that I was going to use that money and just leave my house. I didn't really have a plan.

I just thought that I was going to stay out until the money ran out and then I would just wing it. But I felt like any place, even park benches, would be better than staying at home with these people. Another thing that I decided was that I was going to finally speak up and try to get some help from the rest of the family, even though I was not particularly close to them, and I think that was the best decision that I could have made. After that fight, I gathered all my things that I could pack in my backpack and I left the house. I went straight to my best friend's place, and I told her parents that I just needed a place to crash for a couple of days so they agreed to let me live with them, thankfully. I told them about the entire situation and after I was done, that night, I decided to reach

out to a few relatives. My dad was a single child, but he did have a couple of cousins so I reached out to them, asking for help. I didn't know what to expect, but the next morning, I got a call back from one of my uncles. he is the older son of my grandfather's older brother. He's significantly older than my dad and has a lot of respect in the family because of his age and also because he is in the military in a relatively high-ranking position, so it's also better the social standing that he has a lot of respect and influence in the family.

Which is why, knowing that he was on my side here, it was a huge deal. He had responded to my message on Facebook and given me his contact info, so I could speak to him directly and the second I saw that, I called him immediately and we had a short discussion where I filled him in on everything that was going on. He did not tell me exactly what he was going to do. He just quietly heard me out and told me that he would deal with this now, but until then, I would have to live away from my parents. I was already doing that, so that was not a big deal. I waited for a couple of hours and later that day, I realized that my uncle had stayed true to his word and dealt with the situation like he had

said he would. Because in the evening, my phone started buzzing nonstop since my parents kept trying to contact me either by calling or by messaging me. I did not pick up any of their calls, but I did read their messages and from what I gathered, apparently, my uncle had managed to get in touch with the lawyer, the executor of my grandparents' will, and now he was going to make sure that he filed a lawsuit against my parents for misappropriation of the funds that they had been entrusted with. It has been specifically mentioned in the will that those funds were to be used from my education, but they had obviously not done that because otherwise would not be complaining. And now my parents were messaging me, trying to convince me to take it all back, and were claiming

that they would help me pay off my tuition themselves if I just spoke to my uncle and fixed this situation at hand. They told me that they were really apologetic for the way that they had behaved with me, but they had already handed over the money to my sister and Chloe was already in the process of finalizing the purchase of the house that she had her heart set on. They said that it would be heartless to demand the money back from her at this point and promised me that they were going to look after my college expenses. All I had to do was get my uncle to back off because he had spoken to my parents and told them that he was pretty serious about suing them. He had the lawyer on conference too since the man was a family friend and he said that he was going to make sure that my

parents paid for what they had done and they sounded pretty serious about all of this business. After reading those messages, I decided to call them up and see where the conversation went. I didn't exactly have anything in mind to say to them, I just wanted to hear them out one last time. When I called them up. They picked up instantly and both my parents started telling me how sorry they were for the way that they had behaved and told me that they had just been very stressed out because they knew that this was going to be a very emotionally charged conversation with me and that should have taken me more seriously instead of being so careless about my feelings. They told me that they knew that they had always been distant from me, but if I gave them more seriously, one last chance, they would fix it. Basically, they just kept saying that they would do this and

they would do that, but the only thing that they couldn't do was ask for the money back from Chloe because that would be too selfish of them and they couldn't throw her under the bus for something that was not even her fault. And that told me everything that I needed to know about their priorities because even if at this point, they could not prioritize my feelings over hers, it meant that they would never change. So I told them that I had made up my mind and I was not going to speak to my uncle and back off. I wanted my money back and I would get it since I knew that Chloe was still in the process of purchasing the house and the money hadn't been spent yet. That was about three days back and since then, I haven't spoken to him and I've even blocked them. In the heat of the moment,

I did say certain things, but now, I'm having mixed feelings about it. My uncle is on my side wholeheartedly and we have kept in touch, even though our conversations are pretty short and to the point. I haven't spoken to him about this yet because he's doing a lot for me and I don't want to let him down by telling him that I'm having second thoughts and that I'm ready to take my parents up on their offer by allowing them to take care of my college tuition. I'd defer for deciding to file a lawsuit against my parents even after they offered to come to a settlement with me. Update 1, so it has been four days since I made my post and I've made up my mind, I'm going to try and get my money back. I don't want this settlement that my parents are offering because of just one reason. I don't trust it. them. The only difference between them offering to handle my college tuition and allowing Chloe to keep the funds and me getting all the funds back would be that I would only get the money to pay off

my college tuition and other expenses at the beginning of each semester themselves, but if I have the funds, I get to keep all money that my grandparents left up front. And who knows, I might not even need to use the college fund entirely and be able to save some money, since I have applied for a scholarship, and if I get it, then I'll be left with some. But if I agreed to take my parents up on their offer and let them pay my way through college, I would be back to square one as soon as I graduated, with no savings and no hope of any extra help from them either. So of course, it would be better for me to get my original college fund back from them and

that's why I decided not to tell my uncle about anything. I have been in touch with him like I said, and I recently had to ask him for some extra money because I needed to move out of my best friend's place. I did not want to bother her and her family anymore, even though they hadn't exactly said anything. I know that her parents and she really want to help me out and that's why they hadn't said anything about me staying with them. But to be honest, she already has three younger siblings and I'm sure that I'm not making the situation any easier for them by staying with them. So even if they don't say anything, it's up to me to do the right thing and get out of their

hair. Besides, my uncle actually offered his help and told me that I could ask for whatever I needed until college started, so that's what I'm doing. I know some people have been calling me entitled for the way that I'm behaving, demanding money to pay my way through college, instead of just sucking it up, working my way through it, or taking out a student loan like most people do. But to that, I would just like to say that I am demanding what is rightfully mine. My grandparents had left a college fund for me just so that I wouldn't have to resort to any of those other options as most people do. I don't think there's anything entitled in what I'm demanding. I think it's more entitled that my parents took that money from me and gave it

to their favorite daughter so she could buy a house, which she can't afford on her current income, even though they had also received their inheritance from my grandparents. In fact, my mom's parents are still around and if they really needed extra financial help, they could have asked them. I'm sure they would have been glad to help because judging by the way my maternal grandfather sent me an email telling me that I was being a brat and acting really spoiled and entitled after he found out from my mom that my uncle was helping me sue my parents, he definitely had strong feelings about this situation.

I obviously blocked that email address without even replying because my maternal grandparents are not even close to me in the first place and I don't need to learn Jack from them so they can keep all their lessons and morals and ethics to themselves. I know that it's just basically my parents speaking through them and trying to get under my skin, but I've made up my mind and I'm sure that they must have even been served by now, even though my uncle hasn't exactly mentioned any of it to me. I keep asking him about it, but until now,

all he has told me is that I just need to focus on school and doing well there so I get the scholarship that I want and the rest of it, he'll deal with it. Whenever I'm needed, I will be contacted and be told everything that I need to be told but other than that, I don't need to constantly stay in a state of anxiety over this. And he is pretty authoritative, so I don't like the idea of arguing with him. Besides, I trust him, I'm sure that whenever I need to be told about something explicitly, he's going to tell me about it. I am sure there is a reason why he hasn't been keeping me in the loop constantly and I guess in a way. It is kind of relieving because otherwise, I would constantly be worrying about this and wouldn't be able to get anything else done. I think he understands that and for once, there is

somebody in my corner that I can rely on. So I have no complaints about the situation and soon enough, I will be leaving for college and leaving all of this behind, especially my family. I just have to deal with all of this for a short while and I'm fine with that. Update 2, hi, so it's been a week and a half since my last update, and two days ago, I moved into an apartment that my uncle arranged for me through a few connections. I'm going to have to share it with a roommate who is slightly older than me, but she is really nice and she knows my story. My uncle is covering the rent, but I'll have to pay for groceries.

He told me that he could cover all of that, but he wants me to learn financial discipline, and I think it's a good idea because I do have some savings and a part-time job. So paying for my share of the two groceries, I can manage to do that. Besides, he's already doing so much for me that I think this is very little that he's asking me to do. Anyway, coming to the lawsuit, as promised, he filled me in when I needed to be told stuff. My parents have been served and they are ready to negotiate, so we are having mediation sessions right now. But if that does not work out, this is going to go to court. However, my parents seemed pretty desperate to work this out before it goes to court itself

and our lawyer thinks that we can get all the money back within the next session itself. I don't want to go into the boring details, but we had a virtual mediation session because none of us had the time to meet in person, and it was lucky because I don't think I would want to see them in person either. Throughout the session, my parents seemed really nervous and just kept agreeing with everything that we were saying about how wrong they were and came up with the idea of the settlement once again, the original deal that had been offered to me in the beginning, that they would pay my way through college. And once again, I rejected it and I told them that I just wanted all the funds back and they tried to argue with me, saying that they didn't want to

break Chloe's heart because she was so close to getting the house of her dreams. But I just told them that I didn't care about any of that. All I wanted was the money back so I could go to college and it was rightfully mine, so they had no right to be arguing with me. After a bit of bickering, They asked for one more mediation session in a couple of days and my lawyer thinks that we will be able to wrap it up by then, which is good news. I don't think Chloe or my parents will be stupid enough to spend that money in these couple of days because they know that that will only stir up more trouble for them, in case people think that's what they're planning to do. In any case, I know I've got them and they have nowhere to go at this point. The only person that I feel kind of bad for here

is Chloe because I knew that she really wanted that house. In the past few months, every time that she would come home for dinner and stuff, all that she and her boyfriend would talk about was buying a house and decorating it and all that jazz. She was obsessed with it, and I feel bad that she's not going to be able to get it now, but to be honest, she shouldn't have accepted the money from our parents, especially if she knew that she herself wouldn't be able to afford it on her own. Contrary to popular belief, I don't actually hate Chloe and neither does she hate me. We used to fight a lot when we were younger, but as we grew older, that stopped, and in the past couple of years, she's actually been quite civil.

We haven't spoken ever since I left home and, to be honest, I don't really know if she was aware of the fact that our parents had raided my college savings to fund her homeowner dream. She hasn't blocked me anywhere yet, so I'm assuming that she didn't know but she's going to find out when our parents ask for the money back and she's going to have to give up on her dream. I know it's not going to be easy for her, but I did what I had to. If anybody, it should be our parents who should be blamed in this situation. Anyway, it's too upsetting to think about that, so I'm going to talk about my situation with colleges. I have received emails from a lot of places, and I've been accepted into most of them. But I'm still waiting to hear from this particular

or college that I had in mind, it's my first choice basically and I really want to get a scholarship there. I'll be fine with it even if I don't get a scholarship, but I just want to hear back from them. So far, I've only been told that I've been waitlisted, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's quite close to where my uncle lives as well, so I'll be able to drop in whenever I please since it's just a four-hour drive. My uncle and I have grown closer over the past couple of weeks and it's really nice because his own kids are too grown up and are busy with their own lives, so I guess it's good for both of us since I never had a parental figure in my life to take care of me and he probably misses his kids as well.

He's quite gruff on the surface but he's totally soft on the inside and I know that because a couple of days back, he was checking up on me and he told me that if I wanted to, I could come stay with him, him and his wife, during semester breaks and holidays and stuff. I hadn't thought about it until then, but when he said that, it was so sweet that I instantly agreed. Things are going really great for me as of now and I'm just hoping that my parents and I are able to come to a settlement soon, so I can just be done with all of the negativity and move on from this part of my life. Update 3, hey, guys, so today my parents decided that they were going to return the money to me. They did not seem happy about it, but well, the

decision has been made and they're going to have to stick to it. My lawyer, my uncle, and I are really happy and another good thing that happened today was that Chloe also reached out to me. As it turns out, she had no idea that our parents had used my college funds but ultimately, after today's decision, they had to tell her. Apparently, she hadn't even asked them to help out. She was initially just going to take out a home loan, but they had offered to transfer the money to her and she did not think to question it since she was just happy that she was going to get what she wanted. So a couple of hours ago, she reached out to me through Instagram and sent me a message saying that she was terribly sorry about all the trouble, even though it was not her

responsibility to apologize to me because it was not even her fault, and said that she wishes me all the best for the future. It was kind of sweet and I thanked her and I guess there's no bad blood between us. There's not a lot of love either, but as long as it's neutral, I am fine with it. Maybe someday we'll be able to make it work as sisters and bond, but for now, This is good. Update 4. Hello, everyone. I started college last month and I forgot to update you guys,

but it's been great and I've been really busy because of that. My roommate and I have already become pretty close. The classes are great and I'm having fun here. My uncle and aunt helped me move and stayed here for a couple of days in a nearby hotel until I had completely settled in. I'm really grateful to have them in my life because I really don't know what I would have done without their help. The only reason I've been able to come so far was because they were the only ones from my family who actually bothered to reach out and help me. Everybody else offered their

consolation, but my uncle was the one who actually stood up for me and did something. And that's a huge deal for me. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay them for what they did for me, but I'm going to try and do my best in college and in life in general to make them proud. Also, yes, I got into the college of my choice on scholarship, so I'm going to have quite a a lot of money left over from the college fund that my grandparents had left and it'll be a good head start for me when I graduate. Life is good, I can't complain.