'I no longer get invited to family outings': 20+ People who inherited money and regretted it

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 18, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Money can tear families apart, even when the family members all have the best intentions. 

When a grandparent or family elder passes away, random family members start to come out of the woodwork. While the immediate family is trying to plan a funeral or figure out what to do with all of Grandpa's belongings, suddenly a random aunt from across the country shows up to insist that she's super sad about Grandpa's passing. No, they haven't actually spoken in 2 decades, and she only heard about his passing from a Facebook post, but she would really like a share of his inheritance. The immediate family members get upset about this apparent money-grubbing, and then lawyers have to step in, and the whole thing becomes confusing. 

It can be awfully tricky to figure out who should get what in cases like this, and many families go through their own versions of this scenario when their loved ones pass on. Some folks will date someone for decades, but that person won't receive a penny when they pass if the couple wasn't legally married. Other people end up squabbling with their siblings, or turning away family members who are broke and looking for a quick loan. The people below shared their stories about what happened after they received their inheritances, and it's a wild ride. 

Next, read about one rather entitled birthday celebrant who's insisting that no one give them books as a present, and instead tells people, "It's my birthday… Today I will accept cash." 

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  • 01
    XIG... Family coming out of the woodwork threatening to sue for the money. Family have "surprise" visits and looked like they thought I hid the money in the house somewhere. No amount of telling them we inherited less than 500$ would make them go away. They did not believe it. Now they all just hate us and I no longer get invited to family outings.
    via u/XIGRIMxREAPERIX
  • 02
    workitloud I do estate valuations for various attorneys and such, just as a sideline, and for fun. Got a call to do one, there were two brothers, etc. The way I do it, you pay me up front (usually about $500 for small stuff), and I come in, make baseline valuations of personal property (not real estate), and give estimates based upon what the goods would
    via u/workitloud
  • 03
    (probably) realize at auction. Usually the big stuff is liquidated and divided monetarily, so I don't fool with that. Went in with my usual blather about "If you people have one uncivil word, I will walk and your money will be forfeit" speech, and proceeded to do a round-the-grounds listing/eval with one of my people. They were following us around, smiling and making small talk. One of
    via u/workitloud
  • 04
    them had a wife, the other had a girlfriend, they were all very amicable. When we got done, they asked if I would look and see if their division of property was fair, as they had done it prior to our arrival. They indicated that Salarmy was coming the next day to pick up everything else. I looked at their lists, and they were each for things that the
    via u/workitloud
  • 05
    other didn't want, and the lists were equal to within exactly $10 of my estimates. The brother who had the $10 advantage got out his wallet and gave his brother two five dollar bills. The other brother said "I owe you $5 from lunch last week", and he gave one
    via u/workitloud
  • 06
    back. Then they told me that it was worth $500 to know that they were even and it wouldn't mess up their relationship. They called me about 2 weeks later, asking if I had cashed their check, as they were closing out the estate. I had torn it up, and told them so. They sent the money to the Wind River Tribal Youth Program. Haven't thought about that in years. Thanks, Reddit.
    via u/workitloud
  • 07
    blin... I'm dealing with this sh right now. My Great-Aunt and godmother was a lesbian. Her partner - my Auntie Kitty - had been with her since the 1950's, when my godmother moved to New York. Auntie Kitty was disowned by her family when it came out she was with a woman. My
    via u/blink2356
  • 08
    godmother dad when I was 12 and left my Auntie Kitty everything in her will, which made things strained with my dad's family, though my dad and one of his brothers still talked to her. I moved to New York at 18 for school and, knowing no one else in the city, we became close. She was thrilled that I wanted to have a relationship with her and spend time with her and
    via u/blink2356
  • 09
    didn't hesitate to think of her as my aunt, even though she technically wasn't. She was legit the greatest, and we spent holidays together and she would come to things I worked on and I knew all her friends and she knew mine. I basically spent a decade with her being like another grandmother to me. She d d a few months ago, and it s ks. I miss her a lot, to put it lightly, but she was
    via u/blink2356
  • 10
    in her 90's and lived a long life. Thing was, she left everything to me. Now, I knew she had money - It was hard to miss - but I didn't know how much money she had. I ended up with a decent sized amount of cash and investments, a brownstone in the city, and a place in on the beach in the Carolinas.
    via u/blink2356
  • 11
    Her family came out of the woodwork when she did, sniffing around for money and demanding I give them the beach house, or cash, or whatever. Her will states explicitly that they're not to receive anything from her estate, and it's all to go to me, but they're threatening to sue since 'they're sure she wanted to give them something' even though she hadn't talked to any of them in over half a century, and in
    via u/blink2356
  • 12
    some cases, had never met them. On the opposite side of things, my dad's sisters and brothers are p ed they didn't get anything, because they'd occasionally send her a Christmas card. None of them view it as fair that I was given everything, when they were given nothing. None of them showed up to her funeral, none of them had properly seen her or
    via u/blink2356
  • 13
    talked to her in years except my dad. One of my aunts. has gone so far as harassing my boyfriend since he's apparently only in it for the money, despite the fact that he had a better relationship with her than she did, and had to help me plan her funeral. It's basically a sh show and I hate it.
    via u/blink2356
  • 14
    Catalystic_mind I'll share my current nightmare that started right before my Mom d d. My mother was an alc ic who ended up d_ng of liver failure last May. After my mom did we opened the estate with the state of PA to begin the process of going through her finances and transferring the deed from her house to me.
    via u/Catalystic_mind
  • 15
    As soon as my info was registered with the state, every realtor came out of the woodwork to harass me about selling her property. I got it phone calls, letters, people showed up and wouldn't leave. We had to call the police multiple times on one realtor. I luckily had a great estate lawyer who would hit the people with C&Ds and follow up with the police when they continued to show up.
    via u/Catalystic_mind
  • 16
    My mom had a townhome is a very very desirable neighborhood. It's an easy sale for any realtor but I was still surprised on the sheer number of realtors who harassed us about it. We still have two realtors who stop by our house every once in awhile thank leave a business card. I have a sign stating that we are not selling taped to our door.
    via u/Catalystic_mind
  • 17
    [deleted] A few years ago we inherited some money from my husband's grandfather. My husband's brother & sister also inherited equal amounts. His sister, we had not spoken to in several years, emailed my husband and his brother asking for
    via u/[deleted]
  • 18
    their portion of the inheritance because her part-time personal trainer job wasn't enough to keep funding her lifestyle. LOL.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 19
    Zomg_A_Chicken So this thread has taught me to never give people money
    via u/Zomg_A_Chicken
  • 20
    Allychouchou I had most of my college paid for through scholarships and a fund my parents set up when I was a baby. My roomate junior year would always bring this up as an excuse to not pay for things. Example: "well
    via u/Allychouchou
  • 21
    you have a college fund so you should pay for my dinner too" "I have to take out loans so you should pay for my rent this month." I ended up moving out and avoided her for the rest of my time at school
    via u/Allychouchou
  • 22
    greenizz When I was diagnosed with cancer, my job took up a collection for me. They were very generous and it grew to a fair amount of money. Which we used through out my treatment so that we didn't worry about bills and what not. My sister found out about the money and began to ask for money..never once offering help. But always having a
    via u/greenizz
  • 23
    sob story about why she needed the cash. When lied and said the money was gone. She stopped calling. altogether. Oh and when I was a toddler, my mom passed in a car accident. I had bonds given to me from family friends to help me later in life. My Aunt who adopted me cashed all the bonds before I even finished elementary school, leaving me with nothing.
    via u/greenizz
  • 24
    lostmyshade My dad has two sisters. One of them was an out of control mess that after stealing and making her parents life h I they finally had to cut her out of their lives. My grandma d d and she didn't even bother coming to the funeral. My grandpa ended up in a memory care facility which blew through the last of what they had saved up and
    via u/lostmyshade
  • 25
    then my dad and his other sister took over the payments. When he passed away they had paid over 70k combined for him to live in a nice facility for the last years of his life. After he did the mess of a sister suddenly showed up demanding her share of the inheritance assuming that it would be a large sum of money. They sent her a bill for 1/3 of the 70k.
    via u/lostmyshade
  • 26
    LEDERAL 10.0 Tinty RESERVE Rosa Sumat Secretary of the Trear F. Geithun Treasurer of the SON 100 FW E 215 FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE PK 37288978 C K11 to 6100 100100 100 UNITED MA-FEDERA 100 STATES 100 RESERVE Steven T. Machin Story of the Treanry. the States FRAN
    via Jason Hawke on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 27
    mechantmechant Even more pathetic because it was so little money: Grandma lived off her pension after selling her house way cheap to Aunt. After she d d, Other Aunt divided up her money and stuff, I think each grandkid got $1000, one piece of her inexpensive furniture, a few little things, none of it worth any money. But Cousin K, whose parents got a super
    via u/mechantmechant
  • 28
    cheap house that she keeps saying she wants, carried on about how she was promised everything. She wanted the ten year old freezer her sister with little kids got, she wanted the dishes, she wanted wanted wanted. Ten years later, I avoid talking to her because
    via u/mechantmechant
  • 29
    I'm sure I'll still hear about all of grandma's valuables. that Other Aunt threw away. I think the rest of us should have just gone in together, said, "take one thing then someone else's turn" and we all would have left after round two and left the rest for Cousin K to take everything else and saved ourselves a lot of accusations.
    via u/mechantmechant
  • 30
    Yangoose I am 100% expecting to have a story for threads like this soon. My grandma is 90, in a nursing home, and has at best a couple semi-lucid hours a week. My aunt visits her daily. My mom visits 1-2 times a week.
    via u/Yangoose
  • 31
    My aunt brought my grandma to her house where she had a lawyer waiting and had my grandma sign a new will. The old will split the money 50/50. We have no idea what the new will says. When my mom asked if she could see the will my Aunt got P ED and told her she never wanted to talk to her again.
    via u/Yangoose
  • 32
    My grandma doesn't remember signing anything and doesn't even grasp what a "will" is anymore. We're talking about a decent amount of money here (like hundreds of thousands). My aunt has always been pretty well off. Growing up she was always "the rich" relative to me. I have no idea why she'd destroy her relationship with her sister over this.
    via u/Yangoose
  • 33
    At this point I'm kind of hoping all the money gets eaten up by medical expenses.
    via u/Yangoose
  • 34
    K _Tomato My aunt stole a large sum of money from me. When I turned 18 I was to get a check for 18 years of percap with interest. Six months before my 18th, she quit her job and started working at a small 5 location credit union. She asked me to move my accounts there to help her meet quotas since she just started and would do joint accounts so I could get the
    via u/K***er_Tomato
  • 35
    benifits too. Ten months later I thought she had a better job and was reaping the benifits when she started to remodel her house and spend her nights at the bar. I didn't think anything of it because she was my aunt and had a decent job. When I went to change banks because I was moving across the country she told me she already withdrew the money and I couldn't get it and since it
    via u/K***er_Tomato
  • 36
    was a joint account there was nothing I could do about it. While not fine the worst thing about it was that she claimed it was what my mother wanted and was in her will. Then when disproved said she deserved it more than me, and then eventually that because she did it in a legal way it was hers now. She convinced her boss that I was trying to ruin her life so I couldn't even go to them for help.
    via u/K***er_Tomato
  • 37
    Eventually I got 60% of it back from a settlement but she burned all the bridges. she could in the family. She would cut off any contact with people who asked what the problem was. Or would threaten to if they talked about it. Since she was getting free child care from her mom she said she would rather pay for childcare than listen to her mom talk about
    via u/K***er_Tomato
  • 38
    me. So my grandmother had to keep quiet or she would lose her other two grandkids and her last living daughter along with me because I was moving across the country. Total blindside.
    via u/K***er_Tomato
  • 39
    Chl... I won a lawsuit settlement after almost dong in a fire. I was under 18 at the time of the incident but was 18 when it finally settled. My mother told me unless I gave her half of my settlement, I would have to find a new place to live. I was in my senior year of high school when this happened. She said she deserved it because she was the only
    via u/Chlorophyllboraphyll
  • 40
    one in my life who was always there for me. I didn't give her the money, she kicked me out and tried to keep some of my personal belongings not like I had much since everything was lost in the fire. We didn't talk for months until she randomly showed up at my house one day. She asked me for rent money and gave me some BS sob story. I wrote her a check for $5k hoping it'd maker her go
    via u/Chlorophyllboraphyll
  • 41
    away. It did for a time - she and I barely spoke until years later when I was pregnant. A few years ago I was in a bad car accident (hit by an 18 wheeler) and got some money. I told no one - especially my mom. She has insisted numerous times I was entitled to a settlement for it and should speak to a lawyer she found.
    via u/Chlorophyllboraphyll
  • 42
    She took it upon herself to talk to lawyers on my behalf - or tried to. I just ignored her for months until she finally gave it up.
    via u/Chlorophyllboraphyll
  • 43
    Atl... My mom and dad won big once at a casino around 25 years back. One of those once in a life time medium level jack pots. Around 10,000. Most of the money went into bills and a few family fun things over the course of a summer. How ever during that time my aunt and a few of my mothers relatives kept bu ying her for cash.
    via u/Atlusfox
  • 44
    Her relatives kept demanding she owed them some of the cash because the casino trip was with them, they invited my folks. along and drove them. So by their logic they were obliged to part of the winnings. My aunt on the other hand just kept begging so she could help out with her kids debts. They are vary spoiled kids. and over the years have run themselves into the ground
    via u/Atlusfox
  • 45
    financially and every time their mother, my aunt digs them out. My folks never gave in even though my mothers relatives threatened to sue, which they didn't and my aunt eventually just moved on. After this no one on my mothers side would go with my folks with out making clear that if they won they would get some of the money. Needless to say my
    via u/Atlusfox
  • 46
    parents never went with them again and for a time went on there own. I was young at the time and used to not having much growing up because we were vary poor. This cash really did us a service but the things that stand out to me the most are all the ab ive calls my mother and father got about this money. and how I found out later on that these people beyond
    via u/Atlusfox
  • 47
    my aunt all made near six figure incomes. They didn't need the money they just wanted it.
    via u/Atlusfox
  • 48
    DranoDrinker I inherited a fair amount of money when my grandfather passed away - my husband and I were planning on using it to purchase our first house we had been saving, but - clearly could have a much lower mortgage with this windfall. Well my husband works a side business where he builds custom vehicles. One
    via u/DranoDrinker
  • 49
    friend who was running out of money and his car was only about half way done, found about the inheritance (only because we stupidly asked his advice on mortgage options) - and decided he was going to pull his car (because he didn't have the funds to finish it) and then sue us for $10,000
    via u/DranoDrinker
  • 50
    - and unfortunately we got a lawyer and ended up spending over $3500 to have him say that the customer usually is right and we'd be further ahead to just settle and pay him, because the lawyer fees would be much more if we continued to fight.
    via u/DranoDrinker
  • 51
    Breaks my heart to this day that a good chuck of my inheritance went to pay that -bag off so he could take his vehicle somewhere else to get it finished.
    via u/DranoDrinker
  • 52
    SERVE Tiny T. Gaither Rosa Bumat Secretary of the Trear Treasurer of the SYSTIC
    via Kateryna Hliznitsova For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 53
    noodle-face I didn't inherit a lot. But back in the early 90s when my brother and I were in elementary school my parents were trying to buy a house. They couldn't afford the down payment so they asked if they could borrow
    via u/noodle-face
  • 54
    our bonds ($5k each) and repay us later. They got the house but I never saw that money again. It was something our grandparents gave us for college one day.
    via u/noodle-face
  • 55
    Writing_Princess I inherited my grandparent's trust after my father did just before the cut off date that it would be fully in his name. Basically, it meant that my dad couldn't access all of the trust for X number of years after my grandfather's death, meaning it stayed in the family when he d d rather than pass over to his gold- digging spouse.
    via u/Writing_Princess
  • 56
    I had to change my phone number and move to avoid the phone calls and middle- of-the-night showing up at my door from his spouse and her children. Once or twice a year she tries to reach out to me still through Facebook or email. However, she has an old email address that I use for spam/joining websites. And I got her blocked on Facebook now. Two out of
    via u/Writing_Princess
  • 57
    three of her children are in jail too. I also have had friends who believe I will just pay for everything when we hung out. Go out to eat with them and they will order that super expensive steak and think I would float the bill. They learned the hard way that I wasn't going to pay and ended up themselves for the week or month.
    via u/Writing_Princess
  • 58
    Just because I have the money doesn't mean I have the money. Most of it is still in the trust fund. I only pull out enough to get through the month while I go through school. In fact, I can only access a portion of the funds until I reach certain ages (35 and 40 now.) So obviously I want to play it smart and use it for things I need, like food, rent, gas, and bills.
    via u/Writing_Princess
  • 59
    [deleted] When my grandmother did, she left money to pay for my entire college education - including graduate school. At the time, it seemed that all my friends needed money.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 60
    So, to be true to my grandmother's wishes, I said nothing about the inheritance and paid for those college years as she intended. If I had done otherwise, they would've begged me for money for a variety of needs.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 61
    Amy47101 When my great aunt had a massive stroke, she was deemed unfit to care for herself due to the after effects and all her assets we thus put in charge of my grandmother, my mother, and myself. None of the family was particularly awful; it was akin to a tragedy, she was never going to be the same again.
    via u/Amy47101
  • 62
    Her housekeeper/caregiver on the other hand, was awful. When she found out the assets were in our name, she began to stalk my grandparents, stalked me on social media, and would routinely call our home numbers demanding a payment of around $10,000 for "unpaid services". We asked her what she meant, and she said "gas money for buying her groceries and the round trip, staying longer
    via u/Amy47101
  • 63
    than she had to to finish cleaning, and the late night calls when my great aunt called her to help her up because she had fallen". There was a contract and payment history indicating that she was paid for everything (including overtime and late night
    via u/Amy47101
  • 64
    calls). Eventually, the harassment got so bad that we all go restraining orders. on her, and we haven't heard from her since.
    via u/Amy47101
  • 65
    thudly Friend of mine didn't even win any lottery. She finally got approved for dis ility benefits after years of jumping through bureaucratic hoops. Almost immediately, her family descended like vultures, demanding money for this or that. They didn't believe her that "benefits" in this case basically means the bare minimum necessities to not
    via u/thudly
  • 66
    di of starvation. They thought she was sitting on a nest egg of thousands and started screaming at her and calling her a liar when she said she was actually broke after one trip to the grocery story.
    via u/thudly
  • 67
    First of all, who the f screams at a dis_ed person, demanding money? Second, why the f do they think she owes them a single ☐ dime, even if she was rich, when they can't even give her a ride to the doctor without demanding gas money? I told her to tell them all to go f themselves with a fire hydrant, but she's too nice. That probably answers the questions above.
    via u/thudly
  • 68
    Cheezburger Image 10531391232
    via Annie Spratt on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 69
    . GBTC4me Last December i got money that i didn't truly earn. Rest of my family is okay with it and congratulates me every chance they get. My mother likes bragging that her son is rich because he's so smart (even though what i did was pure luck). It's all fun... .. except for my brother.
    via u/GBTC4me
  • 70
    He keeps trying to rope me into new real estate and investment deals. Says that this is a great property and keeps pressuring me to buy. Tries to manipulate me emotionally and belittles my intelligence for not taking it. The deals aren't bad, they're pretty good and any normal person probably would take an interest. But the stupid part is that my brother is a lawyer who still has more assets than i do. But he isn't
    via u/GBTC4me
  • 71
    willing to risk his own money. He's wants me to pay for the deals and he gets to keep the profits. Basically i'm just another source of loan money to him. Even worse is that he expects me not to charge interest or take a share of the profits because we're family. Sure he says the properties will appreciate in value and i believe him. But i also see through the bulls.
    via u/GBTC4me
  • 72
    when he's says going to cut me a fair deal in future. Even though he's a lawyer I can't even trust anything he puts down in writing since i'm certain there is some clause he can twist to get me. TL;DR; Having money attracts slime b lls and con artists, especially if they're from your own family.
    via u/GBTC4me

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