Saturday, December 17, 2011
Advice in Family Matter?
A couple of months ago my grandmother ped away; four days later my dad ped away unexpectedly after a major surgery. My dad’s half sister (same mother, different father) is my Aunt (54 years old). My grandma spent the last 10 years or so in isted living. During that time, my mom and dad visited her 3x a week or more; did all of her laundry; took her out to eat, to hair and doctor appointments, etc., etc. I also helped with these needs and brought her at my home almost every weekend until this past year when it was too hard for her; then still had her over on holidays. Her daughter (Aunt) spent a minimal amount of time with her up until the last couple weeks of her life. Only in the past 5 years has my Aunt been involved in family functions (mostly holidays) because prior to that she had a chronic drinking & drug problem (alcoholic for over 20 years). Over those years, she put her mother and our family through hell. She has had no job or car for many years so has been on welfare. We moved her belongings in and out of places numerous times when she was evicted or went into treatment (at least 4x); helped her financially; bought her cigs, clothes, food, etc. We didn’t really want anything to do with her, but did so only because if we didn’t it would upset our grandma. Once she was sober, we rekindled our relationship with her (again, mostly for our grandma’s sake). I’ve been the one who has had to drive her back and forth to my home and allow her to stay with me because no one else in the family wants to be bothered with her or have her at their home (she has been known to steal). Now that my grandma and dad are gone, she still expects help from me and the rest of the family. We have told her we will not continue to help her financially. She seems okay with this but we recently found out she is getting money from an Aunt of hers (for her rent, phone, etc.) A couple of weeks ago, my mom received some paperwork indicating that my grandma had a small death benefit that would be paid to my dad and my Aunt. Papers needed to be signed by my mom (for my dad) and my Aunt, so I had to pick her up and drive her to my mom’s. Upon her arrival, she told us that she had been doing some research and she found that there was a life insurance policy that had been cancelled back in 2002. She questioned my mom and us as to where that money would have gone? We told her we had no idea, that was eight years ago! But while my dad had control of my grandma’s finances, he would NEVER have done anything without my grandma’s authorization and would not take a nickel from her. We reminded her that at time, she was still drinking and my grandma probably took that money out to pay the down payment on my Aunt’s trailer (which she proceeded to wreck and lose due to drinking). She kept bringing the matter up again and again. To us, she was insinuating that my dad used the money for his own purpose. My dad didn’t need the money; my parents have always been financially secure. Then, my Aunt brought up $200 that remained in my grandma’s checking account upon her death. I know that my dad closed the account before he died. He gave me $100 for all the running I was doing and for things I was purchasing for my grandma’s upcoming memorial service; the remainder he said he would pay my Aunt’s storage fees (she has a storage in our town that my grandma paid for over the past 5+ years). My Aunt also called the bank and somehow coerced a banker into looking up information in my grandma’s account back in 2002. She was not on the account. In addition, there was a form my brother and I filled out for the County that my grandma resided in which wanted us to list funeral expenses as they could take any remaining ets she had (she didn’t have anything but the $200 in her checking). My Aunt looked over the list and started questioning items we listed. One was a family dinner (that she attended) after the service which cost $300 (that my husband and I paid for). Between my mom, my brothers and I, we arranged and paid for the entire memorial service for my grandma. My Aunt did nothing and paid for nothing – not even the roses that she insisted she wanted from her. I don’t think she should have any say in what went on the list. The form has not been completed since she said she needs to think it over! I’m so angry that she went behind out backs to dig up information and is questioning my family’s integrity. She continues to bother us about hauling my grandma’s belongings to her home (she lives about 45-60 min. away). After all this, I decided I need a break from her. I don’t like confrontations so I have chosen to ignore her and have not been answering any of her phone calls (nor has my mom). She calls at least a dozen times a day and has left messages to call her. I would think she could figure it out, but apparently hasn’t. Eventually I will have to let her know why I’m angry, but not now. Am I justified
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