My brother bought mother's house in 2010 when mother couldn't wait to get rid of the house. She was of sound mind, but was unable to handle the process and had my brother do everything. Brother is out of state and she wanted him to buy the house and be here as much as possible. the house was appraised, the repairs were evaluated and my brother got a loan for what he could afford. My mother "gifted" the balance of the house to him, and he owned the house. Mother died, brother fixed house and is now realizing 110 thousand dollars profit. We share the estate, but he chooses to keep the profit as his good luck.
I can't imagine mother telling him to keep all the money after the deal she gave him, but she's not here. I accept this because I don't have a choice, but I worry about future dealings with my brother. My gut tells me this is wrong. Am I wrong?
It sounds to me as if your brother did what your mother wanted him to do. If Brother owned the house at the time of Mom's death, then the house was not part of the estate.
I understand your disappointment, but I think it would be very unfortunate if you let this incident come between you and your brother. There doesn't seem to be any question of him tricking Mom into this situation, and he did have to do the work to reap the benefits.
As for the future, My brother and I are trustees on my Aunt's estate. Up until now I have handled the money and managed things. I have never told him how much money Aunt has because I didn't want him to start planning what he'd do with the money. I have a good relationship with the accountant, the financial advisor, the lawyer and the bank. I'm going to tell all of them that I do not trust my brother and then do what they recommend. My Aunt is horrified at what my brother did. She kept saying my mother wouldn't want that. That it wasn't fair. I am so blessed to have my only remaining family member on my side. I know I will need to protect myself from brother. I'm grateful to everyone here who patiently spelled it out. It's hard to tell people their loved ones are not trustworthy. I went to Aunt's house today and photographed everything. I'm calling the lawyer to see what is permissible about the contents of her house. She is in assisted living, and now that my mother is gone and my brother is selling out and leaving, he wants to take some of her things. He bought a big trailer to load things up from his house and from Aunt's house. I didn't like the idea, but in the past if I object they do what they want anyway so I'll tell the lawyer first thing in the morning and let her advise me on what to do.
You mother sided with your brother in ridiculing and scorning you, while you were the unpaid caregiver?
I'm sorry, it it really does not sound like you came from a very nice family. Now that Mom has died, break out of that dysfunctional situation and make a good life for yourself.
Sorry twinflower, sounds like it was a decision at the time that seemed fair to mom for whatever reason and your brother lucked out.
If you love your brother, and he is not gloating over this, then let it go if you can. It seems that if she were trying to protect from stepchildren then she could've handled differently and legally included you in some way.
When my father died my mother tried to give my brother dad's truck, he got all of dad's guns except one, all of his tools and lawn equipment and other things of significant value. I got zero, except for his Timex watch. Was this fair? No. It was a sign of things to come and the mean and dysfunctional situation we have.
No you brother is not nice but seems to be entitled. Like someone else said, let it go but remember your brother showed you who he is. You need to believe him.
I think he probably thinks in terms of money before people and makes no exception for family. I think in terms of people before money. In fact money is pretty far down on my list of priorities. It's probably why I don't have much! And why I can be taken advantage of. I haven't been paying enough attention. That will change.
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