'AITA for not carrying on my late grandfather’s support even though I received his inheritance?' 'I asked my lawyer.'
"AITA for not carrying on my late grandfather’s support even though I received his inheritance?"
My (21f) grandfather recently passed and left me all his assets. My mother was his only child and when my parents passed in a car accident when I was 17 he became my guardian. I was studying in a boarding school, so there was no big change to my living arrangement. I spent one summer with him before going to university. The last time I saw him was this new year.
The thing is, my grandfather has never been close to my family. He and my grandmother were never married and my mom grew up with grandmother. He did attend big events in her life, like graduation and wedding and my birth, but I saw him for like a week every couple of years.
My mother knew very little about her paternal family except that grandfather had 2 half siblings she had met a few times in her life. I have never met any of them. My grandfather left behind some properties and money.
When I looked into it, he has been letting some children of his nieces and nephews stay for roughly $100 a month in his places. He had also set up his bank account to deposit a relatively small amount of money every month to a few older family members.
I asked my lawyer to take care of evicting these people and stop the monthly allowance. The extended family now reach out to me, claiming that grandfather has promised he would help them out until they are back on their feet and that as I received his inheritance, it is only right I carry on his intention. They asked me for another year and then they will not seek my support anymore.
I know these people are my relatives by blood, but I don't know them nor do I want the hassle of waiting a year for their convenience. I am not struggling financially as I have full scholarship, my parents' assets and life insurance money, and am studying in a field that will lead to a relatively well paying job. AITA for cutting the support?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
BBQQuails said:
NTA. That he didn’t specify in his will that you keep taking care of these people financially after his death means he leaves everything up to you. Just make sure to check with your lawyer that these people will not create troubles for you.
catboogers said:
YTA only for jumping straight to eviction. Sending them a notice of non-renewal or giving them a timeline to find new housing would've been better. Having an eviction in your past can make it so much harder to find housing.
You can do with the property what you want, sure, and you have no obligation to let them stay at a severely under market rent for years and years, but I'm surprised that eviction right off the bat would even be legal. Tenants have rights.
gorgonalias said:
NAH whatever you choose. But if it's about the inconvenience of being tied to these people for a year rather than the money itself, just give the older ones a single lump sum rather than regular payments for the next year and offer the younger ones cash in exchange for moving out amicably within a couple of months.
Schmergenheimer said:
YTA for the manner in which you're going about it. Jumping straight to, "he's dead; GTFO," while it might be legal, is still an ahole move. You said yourself you don't need the money, so give them a chance (six months or so) to get weaned off.
You can diminish the allowance over that period to get them used to not having the extra cash. Make it clear you won't be extending the nearly-free past the initial grace period, and at that point, they would be the assholes for staying.
[deleted] said:
NTA. If he wanted these people to keep receiving support, he could have easily set it up like that. That's YOUR money, and you don't owe them a thing.
Naive-Mechanic4683 said:
I'd go for YTA. Like sure you are legally allowed to do this, but it is a little bit heartless? You randomly got a lot of money/assets, found out that part of this money/assets was being used to help other people and just asked your lawyer to end that...
It doesn't sound like you would lose anything by giving them reasonable time to move out, and I'd even go as far as looking into whether you could sell them the properties for below market price (although if they are struggling financially that is probably not going to happen