Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
Why wouldn’t you want to give half of the money to your sister? Would being estranged and despised by not giving her a half be worth keeping that half? You said it’s not a huge amount and you didn’t expect it. It was her dad too regardless of anything else. Give it to her and keep the family ties strong. Ignore all the “it’s your money!” crap. You didn’t earn this money. It just came your way. This is the best advice you are gonna get. Don’t even think about keeping it all to yourself. Tell her that you will share and enjoy peace in the family.
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I tend to agree with you, but I would probably preface that with - give her an amount you are comfortable with and explain why this is the amount. It is not up to the mother to dictate terms of the arrangement in any way, shape or form. If the surviving parent is also elderly, it may be wise to keep some of this money to help with care expenses should they be needed in the coming years.
If the remaining sum is not much, I would simply offer to take the family on a trip and avoid cutting cheques for specific amounts of money. You are not obligated to simply give 50% to someone because "it's the right thing to do". You get to decide what's right when you are left the money, and for me it would be the above.
People are really awful when it comes to money that isn't their own. It sucks that this often comes to the forefront when someone passes. I would like to think that I would be very diplomatic if a family member left or didn't leave inheritance to me over someone else, but until you're in the situation, it's pretty hard to predict when it involves so much emotion and pride.