'AITA for stopping my grandmother claiming 1mil from my father?'

"AITA for stopping my grandmother claiming 1mil from my father?"

My father, his wife (my mother) and his MIL (my grandmother) bought a house together. My father took care of the house, my dying mother, his kids and his parents in law. When my mother passed, the house was 50/50 owned by my father and his MIL.

Half would’ve been worth 100-150k. In 2017 my grandmother gave her share of the house to my father so she could get maximum pension benefits (you get less or none if you own property).

Her share would’ve been worth 225k due to property prices increasing since the initial purchase. She said it was a gift for him being the caretaker of her dying daughter and themselves. There seemed to be a mutual agreement that no money needed to be exchanged. My father has all the paperwork saying he is the sole owner of the home.

My father wanted to build a dream home. My grandfather was getting too old to walk so we all agreed it would benefit everyone to move my grandparents somewhere he could access public transport. I purchased an apartment worth 375k that we would house my grandparents rent free with me and my father covering home loan repayments, utilities and strata.

This year me and my father paid for the knock down rebuild and now the house is worth 2mil. My grandmother blindsided my father by asking for her share of the house back, which she claims is 1mil. Her daughters have said he could go to court for elder fraud and they had the power to foreclose selling of the house.

They said family profits should be shared. He was upset because he felt like my grandmother was going back on her word which meant his dedication to the family meant nothing to them. We offered to give them my apartment worth 375k but they declined. My father told me that the house’s profits were for me only.

My grandmother said she was there for me growing up but not her other grandchildren so she’s going to pass down all that money to them and not me. My grandmother called me to accuse my father of hoarding all the money, that she still had ownership of the house, called me stupid for thinking otherwise and living in my apartment rent free wasn’t relevant.

Our lawyer calculated deductions from their asking price and said they would win nothing in court (not to mention be accused of pension fraud). We told that side of the family to exclusively talk to our lawyer. I do not think she has right to 1mil. Max 225k might be OK. AITA?

TL;DR: Grandmother gave her half of the house which was worth 225k to my father a decade ago. She did this as a gesture of good will for my father being the main caretaker of her dying daughter and the rest of the household. She also did this to get maximum pension benefits.

We housed them somewhere more central rent free and paid for the rebuilding of the house. My father intended on passing any profits down to me. My grandmother says she has a claim on half the house’s worth of 1mil and intends on passing the money down to all her grandchildren but me when she dies. I do not think she has right to 1mil.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

NotGreatAtGames wrote:

My petty a** would be telling her to start paying rent on the apartment or get out.

OP responded:

Apparently the rent doesn’t matter and the hefty retirement pay outs my aunts received don’t count as shareable profits amongst the family either.

Mean_Armadillo_279 wrote:

She is entitled to 0 morally or legally.

Listen to your lawyer. Who knows, giving her more might even be construed as you owing her something.

OP responded:

Yes my lawyer said anything we give to them must be stated as a ‘gift’ and not as payment they believe they’re entitled to. My father insisted on giving them something to ‘help them’ and my lawyer commended his unnecessary kindness.

Rogueheroakatsuki wrote:

"My father has all the paperwork saying he is the sole owner of the home."

That's all what is needed. Grandmother gifted her share, it was YEARS ago and she suddenly wants it back? Nope. You don't owe here anything, even apartment. There is no court in this world which would rule in her favor.

It was her free will , she signed all paperworks 9 years ago. Sad a bit that finances destroys family relations, but here we go. Don't budge even inch. She has no cards.

OP responded:

Yes it's sad because we are planning to cut them off and change our names if we cannot get over this dispute peacefully. Aside from the finances, I can feel a lot of emotional animosity from both sides.

Altruisticrelif189 wrote:

NTA. And you need to figure out what family member put her up to this. She didn't come up with all this convoluted nonsense on her own. She didn't contribute financially to the rebuilding of the house - she can't claim the profit. And living in the apartment rent free cannot be dismissed as nothing.

OP responded:

I believe it is the eldest aunt who is head of the mediation between my grandmother and my father. We do not believe she will back down without legal intervention.

LdiJ46 wrote:

I don't think that she is entitled to anything at all. She gave her half of the house to your father and has been living rent free in a condo that you own. I assume she gets to continue to live in that condo? I would continue to insist that they talk to your attorney only. They are being extremely greedy.

OP responded:

Is she chooses to yes she could continue to live in the apartment. Despite all that happened I don’t think I want to kick her out. However she has not taken care of it so it’s now cluttered and kinda gross, hence my aunts desires to move her out. Just to clarify I did not live in the apartment with them. I was living with my father then moved out to rent an apartment close to work.