Reddit Stories - Inheritance ultimatum my dad's demand to share my home with stepbrother dramatic vocals

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #inheritanceultimatum #mydad #demand #sharemyhome #stepbrotherSummary: When my dad demanded I share my home with my stepbrother to secure my inheritance, I refused. His dramatic vocals echoed through the house, but I stood my ground. Now, tensions are high as we navigate this ultimatum.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, inheritanceultimatum, mydad, demand, sharemyhome, stepbrother, dramaticvocals, familydrama, propertydispute, generationalconflict, siblingrivalry, toughchoices, familyties, homeownership, emotionalstandoff, personalboundariesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Father insisted that I accommodate my step-sibling in my residence in order to receive his estate. By the second day, the step-sibling disclosed that he had depleted all his funds on extravagant living expenses, thus making the situation challenging. I, M-30, had never met my stepbrother until last week. My parents split up when I was really young and I barely knew my dad. He sent alimony and, well, that was about it. It's not like I never had an interaction with him or don't have any fond memories of trips and stuff, but the fact of the matter was that I wasn't really much of a priority for him.

He got remarried when I was 10, and my stepbrother Justin, M18, was born shortly after. After my dad's wedding, he moved abroad in order to live with his wife in her home country, UK, and that cut our relationship down even more. I didn't want to keep putting in the effort to be recognized by my dad, even at that young age, and he slowly stopped becoming an important part of my journey growing up. My mom, however, did everything for me, and she taught me how to be a kind and loving person. She always tried to help me understand my dad's POV and was the glue that stopped me from completely cutting off all contact with him.

However, she passed away when I was 20 years old, due to cancer. Her loss still affects me to this day, and without her around, I felt like I had been untethered by the one person who loved me unconditionally. With that glue gone, I felt like I would basically lose all touch with my dad too, but to my surprise, he not only came for Mom's funeral but stayed at my place for a few weeks helping me feel better and grieve. He told me stories about what Mom was like as a college student, the things she did, and her odd mannerisms which he still remembers. Those couple of weeks were probably the closest emotionally I'd ever been to him in my life.

It made me come to terms with the fact that I still had a parental figure in my life and when he went back to the UK, we kept in touch. Sometimes I would have video calls with him and briefly speak with his wife or Justin, but the bond was more of politeness than anything else. I understood that they were a different part of my dad's life, and neither me nor his family were that interested in blending together. Besides, it's tough to form much of a bond when you live all the way across an ocean. My dad made frequent trips to the U.S. for work, and I got to catch up with him then. During one of those meetups, there was a really cathartic moment between us where he apologized

for not prioritizing me during my childhood, and even told me that he had left me a significant chunk of money in his will. I remember him saying I know this can't make up for anything in the past, son. I just hope it'll keep your future steady. It was a heart to heart that stuck with me, and I forgave him for his crappy parenting as I was growing up. Not entirely, I don't even think it's possible to forgive someone entirely for that, but I wanted to remove the roadblock towards a growing bond one had with him. Things changed after that moment. It began to feel like I had a family again. My dad and his family, barring Justin because he had his A-level exams, came to my wedding to Clara F-32, when I was 28, and I even visited the UK as a part of my honeymoon

tour. My dad's wife was a lovely woman, albeit a bit distanced from real life when it comes to money matters. I mean, Dad is wealthy, and she's from a family that's so posh that they're walking British stereotypes. Like, straight out of Downton Abbey. So, while we got along, there was definitely a cultural gap between us. I was no longer as isolated as I thought I would be. Things seemed to turn out even better because Dad was planning to settle in the U.S. after retiring, which was only a few years away. He also wanted Justin to go to his alma mater, so there was a chance that I would finally meet my stepbrother. As luck would have it, I had settled quite close to Dad's college, and having gone there myself, I thought it would be a good idea to invite Justin to live with me

and Clara to get used to American life. Dad was ecstatic at the idea and in a few short weeks, Justin was at my doorstep. However, from the moment we met there was tension between us. Justin had grown up with two rich parents, while I had grown up with one. He was spoiled than his whole way of living was completely alien to me. In the one day we met, he wasted food at a restaurant, made fun of a waitress for wanting a bloody tip, and spent thousands of dollars at the airport mall. I am not kidding, thousands of dollars. He was upset that our house didn't have an outdoor pool, and basically demeaned me and Clara for living like this. I kept it in when I was in front of him, but I was seething inside. As soon as I got the chance, I phoned. I phoned. I phoned. I phoned. I phoned. I

my dad and told him that this wasn't going to work out. To my surprise, he didn't want to hear it at all. I don't know where this was coming from, but he felt resentful that I wasn't giving Justin a chance. He said, come on, you've known him for one day. He's a good kid, I swear. Please just give him a chance. I mean, I understood his POV, but at the same time, you can just tell that someone is going to be an entitled jerk from the moment you meet them. Again, all of these thoughts were just that, thoughts. I was a lot more diplomatic about explaining why I didn't want Justin around, but it failed. The conversation got a bit messy and my dad said if you two can't be brothers I'd have to give my wealth to the person I've been able to raise. You get that, right? You too need to get along

because I want to have a family with no infighting. Otherwise, we can just have the kind of We had before, Up. You need to commit not just to me, but to my wife and kid too. That was, a low-blow emo, but I decided that maybe it would be best to try and keep Justin around for a few more weeks. After that, Dad would also be in the U.S., and my idiotic stepbrother would be off my hands. Simple enough, right? Wrong. So, so wrong.

The next day, while Clara and I went off to work. work, Justin was asleep in the guest bedroom. I asked him what his plans were and whether he needed any help with his admission process, but he just said he had jet lag and that he'd just relax all day. When I got home in the evening, the house was a mess. There was a huge party going on at my house because apparently he went out in the afternoon and made friends with some girls he wanted to impress. After buying half of Tiffany's for them, he let them and all their friends have a party at my house. As I was kicking everyone out, Clara came out of the house visibly agitated and told me that some drunk guy had made a pass at her. Not only was my house ruined, but my wife felt unsafe in her own home because of Justin's stupidity.

I saw red and told him that he was never allowed back in my house. When he asked, come on, where am I supposed to go? I replied that he best book a damn hotel room. That's when I found out that he had drained the money dad had given him to get settled into the U.S. All of it was gone in literally a few days. I couldn't care less, and I told him to figure it out. The next morning, my dad called me and said that he was really disappointed that I let a kid rough it out like that. Apparently, the idiot called his dad and then spent the night at a gas station.

I know that he was super entitled, and I'm definitely not going to apologize for going off on him, but was ITA for kicking someone out into a country they're not familiar with? Update 1 So, Dad landed in the U.S. He booked an early flight and sent Justin some more money so that he could check into a hotel. I wasn't going to budge on letting my stepbrother back into my home, but I did invite my father to my house so we could talk things over. If he was going to be just as stubborn about forcing a bond with Justin though, I was going to tell him that I could care less about his inheritance.

We'll see how things go, though. Update 2 Speaking to Dad was quite a roller coaster ride. First off, it wasn't just him who came, it was his wife too, and, to my dismay, Justin as well. I couldn't do much about it and all of us awkwardly sat in the living room. Then, to my surprise, Justin got up and blurted out an apology for his behavior. It was rehearsed and it sounded like a snotty toddler being forced to apologize by his parents, which isn't too far off from reality.

My dad then said that he also didn't understand the full extent of Justin's behavior, and after he learned about how he had drained all of his savings by looking through his transaction history, he had a stern talk with Justin. I'm not surprised that this kid gave Dad a very different story than what had gone down, basically saying he lost his money through a scam to which he was a victim, and I wasn't willing to hear him out. I scoffed at that and said, Dad, I appreciate you making your kid apologize, but it doesn't change how I feel about him.

I won't let him stay with me, and nor would I consider him as my family unless he proves that he is genuinely sorry. I do respect you and your wife, but I need time before I can really even think about calling Justin a brother of mine. That changed the tone from apologetic to icy once again, and they left without promising to meet up or fix things. The inheritance wasn't ever brought up again, and I guess that means that Dad still sticks by what he said. Clara thinks that it would be better for me to just pretend to mend bridges with my stepbrother so that my dad feels more secure about his family, and I don't lose the relationship that I've built with him over the years. But I just can't bring myself to do that.

Update 3. So, it's been a month since my dad has moved to the U.S. In that time, we haven't really spoken to each other, and I think Justin has finally moved into a dorm. However, to my surprise, I got a call for my dad's wife, and she had a heart-to-heart with me which she admitted that Justin was spoiled because of her. My dad just wanted me to have a relationship with my stepbrother because he was insecure about bringing together the two different parts of his life. He thought that it was a prerequisite for me and Justin to respect each other in order to stop his family from being fragmented.

He had confided in her about these feelings but felt too ashamed to reach out to me that I thanked her for letting me know, and I did tell her that I'd reach out to dad when I felt ready. I spoke to Dad on call, and it was clear that he missed me, and vice versa. He fully admitted to being an a-hole and blinding himself to Justin's terrible behavior, while also forcing me to live with it. He apologized for threatening me about the inheritance and said that I would receive what I deserved, regardless. I thanked him and reassured him about our relationship and how it isn't compulsory for me to get along with Justin

in order to respect his new family. Things seem much better between us now. Now on to the next story. Story 2. My wife stole our daughter's college money to fund her shopping addiction and wants me to take the blame. I've been with my wife Andrea 48F and my stepdaughter Cassie 17F for eight years now. I love them both to death, but Cassie is a very brilliant young woman. Recognizing her potential, me and Andrea decided to put together.

a college fund for Cassie so she wouldn't be crushed by debt. Over the years, it has amounted to over $200,000. Cassie is aware of this and is banking on it since she's trying to get into the Ivy League. To make a long story short, last week, I found out that almost $170,000 of the money was missing from the account. I freaked the fuck out and asked Andrea if she knew anything about it. She teared up and said that she had been spending the money over the year. years to fund her spending habit. I was furious, but I had a moment of clarity. I browsed these

subs enough to know that an affair was possible, so I asked her if she was having one. She adamantly denied it and offered any proof I needed. Social media accounts, emails, her work phone, everything. She offered to show me the receipts as well. There was nothing that popped out as suspicious, and the math from the receipts added up as well so I let it go. But we still had the major problem of the money being gone. She described herself as a shopping addict, and the money from Cassie's account was just too tempting not to use. She didn't make excuses, but offered no solutions.

As stated before, I was beyond furious. She ruined Cassie's chances at going to college debt-free and has changed the trajectory of her whole life. I had asked her to stay with her sister while I tried to figure this out. Cassie was concerned about why she was leaving, but we just said we needed a little bit of space. I asked Andrea to come back home yesterday and we had an extremely long discussion about how to handle this. She stopped me from talking and asked a favor of me. She asked if I could take a the fall for her.

For context her and Cassie don't get along for a variety of reasons, and knowing how independent Cassie is, She will probably leave right after college if not during. In fact, me and Cassie get along very well and she comes to me for a lot of her issues. Andrea fears this will permanently drive Cassie away and she doesn't want to lose her. I told her that before we even talk about that, she needed to acknowledge her mistake and own it. She needed to go to individual therapy, we needed couples counseling, she needed to find a shopaholic support group and that I would be controlling the finances from now on. She said those terms were steep but fair. I said she needed to tell Cassie what she did,

apologize and hope for the best. She refused and said she could never lose Cassie. She said I could survive the mistake, but she couldn't. I told her that in order to even consider me taking the fall, she needs to agree to my terms. I don't know what the hell to do. The last thing I want to do is lie to Cassie, but I don't want Andrea and Cassie to split up forever. And the worst part about this whole thing is that Cassie's life is ruined either way. And I don't know how to replenish the money other than maybe borrowing from my 401k. Reddit do you have any suggestions? Divorce is always an option, but I love Andrea despite her mistakes, and me dating at age 52 is next to impossible.

Edit. After everyone in here knocks some sense into me, I realized I can't lie to Cassie, I love her too much and she deserves the absolute truth, no matter how ugly and hard it is. I will be talking to Andrea and telling her that we need to tell her the truth together as a condition of us staying together, or else I will initiate divorce proceedings and tell Cassie anyway. Also, as someone suggested, I don't need her trying to flip the script on me so I'll record our interactions going forward. Thanks. Edit 2. I want to thank everyone here for really opening my eyes yesterday. You're all right, I need to put Cassie first and like I said, I'll be telling the absolute truth, even if she gets mad at me and disowns me at least I'll know

I did the right thing. In addition, I'm going to pay for her college myself. I can pull money from a couple of places such as my retirement and inheritance, so it'll be okay. If I have to live a little frugally during retirement and work a few extra years then so be it, Cassie is worth it. I honestly doubt her mother is going to sell her stuff so that's why I'm taking this route. As for Andrea, I've been criticized for wanting to let Andrea off the hook, so to speak, but it's easy to say when really deep feelings aren't involved. That being said, I don't think I can stay with her. What she did is horrendous and she ruined our daughter's future for her addiction. We had a long discussion late last night and I threatened divorce unless she told

Cassie the truth. She begged me not to do this, but I put my foot down and eventually, she agreed, but only if I agreed not to divorce and I helped to repair their relationship. I likely won't be doing either, she made her bed so she can sleep in it. So if I have to update, I'll probably just make a whole new post, thanks a lot guys. Update, my wife stole our daughter's college money to fund her shopping addiction and wants me to take the blame. I want to start this by thanking everyone who replied to me in the original post. You all showed me tough love and I appreciate that. I even appreciate those who were calling me a doormat because like I said in the previous post, it woke me up. I won't be staying with Andrea. She's lied and manipulated.

me and Cassie for far too long for me to stay with her. The fact that she stole from me, Cassie and Cassie's grandparents makes this as close to unforgivable as it gets. The most wronged party here is Cassie. She has an amazing future ahead of her and I refuse to let her future go to waste because my wife made such selfish choices. Also, I'd like to take the time to answer some common questions, some of which I answered in the original post, but I'll post again here so everyone can see it. 1. Over half the money in the account came from Cassie's grandparents, aka Andrea's parents, Cassie's bio-dad's parents, and my parents whom she also calls grandparents.

This money came in the beginning, which is why I knew how much was supposed to be in there. 2. I never handled the account. Although I claimed Cassie as my daughter, she is only my stepdaughter officially. As such, her mother handles all financial matters related to her. to her. I simply gave her money to put in the account, and she showed me probably doctored, statements. My belief is that she pocketed the cash whenever I gave her money. Free. I did notice all the stuff she was buying. She claimed that they were either on sale or because she got a work bonus. She makes a very good living, and I thought was responsible

with money, so I said, all right. I did ask her why she needed so many Christian Lubutan shoes. she shrugged it off. And although people can't wrap their heads around it, it's very easy to spend $170,000. Four, a large chunk of the money went to buy a Mercedes, which I thought was a lease. She had a seven-year-old Lexus that according to her, her friends were laughing at. Keeping up appearances for her wealthy friends is very important to her. 5. Cassie and Andrea do not get along for a variety of reasons. Allegedly Cassie takes a lot after her deceased father and Andrea can't relate to her at all, or maybe doesn't try hard enough. Cassie much prefers me to talk too.

We have parents-slash-child boundaries, but Cassie considers me one of her best friends her words, not mine. Six. I realized taking the fall was her manipulating me. Plus it would have opened me up to a crap ton of consequences that I don't need to deal with. Plus honesty is always the best policy. 7. I wasn't thinking properly in my last post, and was afraid to be alone and single. I guess I have some issues being alone that I need to address. Plus I really do love Andrea, we connect in a very deep way, but I'm still divorcing her.

Oddly enough a comment that senior homes have chlamydia outbreaks for me laughing and made me realize that I could date again at this age. Plus you guys gave me some very nice compliments, so thank you for those. After my final update on the original post, I talked to Andrea deep into the night. She went back and forth with me on admitting to Cassie what she did. She said that she or even both of us could get loans and take care of the money then. I said she had a problem and she needed to make amends, which was a talking point from here. When I threatened her with divorce she agreed to tell her so long as I don't. divorce her, I guess she's afraid of losing everything. That afternoon we sat Cassie down and told

her the facts. She thought we were just kidding at first, but when she realized weren't kidding she got extremely upset. I'll spare you the details, but she and Andrea got into an extremely loud and vicious shouting match. Cassie called her some truly awful names in Andrea, while she didn't curse at her, tried to defend herself but started getting angry at the name she was being called. They were so loud, the neighbors called the police, I had to awkwardly explain the situation to them while hoping they didn't think I was some kind of wife-beater. Cassie told Andrea that she never wanted to speak to her again, and that she never wanted a dime of her money and stormed off. I asked Andrea at this point to stay with her sister indefinitely while we give Cassie and me some space. She didn't want to go, she fought me to stay, but I told her me and Cassie needed time apart from her.

So she packed her stuff and went to her sister's house. As for Cassie, she went to her room and locked the door. She let me in after I told her that her mother had left. She cried in my arms and expressed that her future was now ruined. I told her it wasn't, that I would cover her college for my retirement, and that I would make it right. She doesn't exactly know what a 401k is yet, but she told me that she doesn't want me to work until I'm 90 like the people of Walmart just because of her. I just told her she's worth it, and that you do stupid things for the people you love. She said that she would start looking for scholarships and maybe other schools where

she could get a full ride since she has excellent grades and extracurriculars. I then admitted Andrea wanted me to take the fall for her and that I had considered it, but I came to my senses. She got upset with me and told me that would have been the stupidest thing I could have done. She said she wouldn't have believed I did it anyway, and it only would have made her more upset at her mother. She told me that she doesn't blame me and that she's not mad at me for the money being gone, but she is mad that I'd want to cover for her mother. I apologized for that. We talked and cuddled for a while longer before calling it a night.

The next morning, I get a call from Andrea's parents asking if the story was true. Cassie had told them the story and they were calling to confirm, I had the voice recordings and bank statement to prove it. They were livid, but begged me not to leave Andrea for this, and to try and help her through her addiction. I told them I wasn't sure about that yet and hung up. A while later my parents called and asked me about it, I confirmed. They were probably more mad than Cassie was all things considered, they're threatening to press

charges. I told them to calm down and that I would handle it. Cassie is doing okay, she's still a little shell shocked, but she seems to be taking it as well as one could hope for. I made her pancakes this morning and that seemed to brighten her mood a bit. I asked her if she wants to do therapy, she said she'll think about it. I will be doing therapy for myself. Andrea has been calling to talk, but I'm just letting it ring, so she's leaving voicemail. She's offering anything to make it right, money, sex, favors, you name it. But it's not going to work. I feel horrible for Cassie, and especially so close to Christmas.

I think I'm going to get her Billy Eilish tickets since that's her God. It won't make up for it at all, but it could go a long way to helping her feel better. So that's it for now, I guess I'll update if anything further happens, but I think this is pretty much it. Thanks all, you've been a tremendous help. Edit, I forgot to add, I watched my credit like a hawk so there was nothing suspicious there, but it's going to locked. I'll be going to my accountant next week to have Andrea removed from everything meaningful. Life insurance, will, bank accounts, etc.

And I'll be adding Cassie. I've started changing passwords and the like so Andrea doesn't have access. I'm stringing Andrea along with non-divorce until my accounts are secure. Also, from what I can tell, Cassie's credit is okay. But I'll be doing a deep scan and locking that as well. Edit 2, fixed a line where I mixed up the names. Edit 3, I can't believe I have to say this, but there's a few people saying it's creepy that I'm cuddling with my daughter. If sitting together with her crying on my shoulder and us talking is considered creepy then sure, I'm creepy.

Leave it to the internet to make things weird, I guess. And no, I don't think I'm some hero. I'm just trying to do the right thing.