After this man's grandmother passed away, court-filed documents valued her estate at around $742,000 after liabilities.
Because his father had passed before his grandmother, he and his brothers expected to inherit one-sixth each, or roughly $123,000 apiece. But when his uncle, the executor of the estate, contacted them (via Facebook), the conversations were suddenly only about $10,000 a piece.
When asked what had happened to the remaining amount, the uncle made conflicting claims about the after-liability balance actually being before liabilities. The brothers began quietly contacting relevant authorities in an attempt to get court supervision of the estate.
But one of the brothers shared their experience with this online community. Appealing to readers to see whether or not they were in the wrong for dialing their response up to 11 when the uncle's story didn't line up.
In the original post made to the popular community, he shared the account below of his uncle's alleged actions in an effort to get some outside opinions and clarity on the issue.
AITA for asking my uncle to explain where $700,000 went from my grandmother's estate?
Story / Impossible-Part-9064
My grandmother passed away earlier this year in her mid-90s. Before she d*ed, her house — which she had owned for over 60 years — was sold while she was cognitively declining. She then moved in with my uncle and his wife for the last few months of her life, completely dependent on them for everything.
My uncle is the executor of her estate.
The family awaits the administration of the estate.
Featured likenesses do not identify those mentioned.
The official court-filed probate documents show her estate was worth approximately $742,000 after liabilities. My brother and I are each legally entitled to a one-sixth share — roughly $123,000 each — because our father, her son, passed away before her.
Instead, my uncle contacted us via Facebook Messenger and offered us $10,000 each. He said to sign a release first and he would e-transfer us the money. The release was a Word document sent from his personal Gmail, which he claimed came from the estate lawyer. It didn't.
When we asked where the other $700,000 went, he told us the $742,000 figure was before liabilities — which directly contradicts the court document he filed under oath. He also told us he was trying to keep lawyers out of it because it was expensive.
We sent a formal request for a full accounting. He ignored it for weeks. When he finally responded, he told us our grandmother said on her d*athbed that she didn't want us to have anything — a verbal statement that has zero legal standing to override a written will. He also claimed he paid hundreds of thousands in expenses out of his own pocket — but he had full access to her accounts.
Since her d*ath, he and his wife quietly moved from one province to another and purchased a home.
We have not signed anything. We have contacted lawyers, government agencies, and law enforcement. We are now formally requesting a court-supervised accounting.
So... AITA for simply asking an executor to explain where $700,000 went?
It really is a shame that these types of actions are so common in families.
Everyone handles their grief differently, but it really has a knack for bubbling family tensions to the surface. As the grief adds mounting stress and the glue holding the family's cracks together dissolves, with money on the table, things can get ugly really quickly. Families who once managed to remain strainingly civil quickly become suspicious of each other's motives.
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