Some background: My grandfather just passed away at the end of January. He was closing in on 90 and lived a very full life and died very peacefully in his home which is exactly where he wanted to be.
This is where the story gets very sticky, my grandfather lived in a cheap tract house and was very frugal. His only passions in life were woodworking and his garden. But to my huge surprised I was named as his sole heir with life changing money. With the house, everything in it and cash his estate was valued at a little over a million dollars.
Here's where it gets even stickier. My mom passed away 6 years ago. She had one sister who I was fairly close to and from her I have 3 cousins. I don't know the full details of why my aunt was estranged from my grandpa, in fact all my mom ever told me was "it's between the two of them." I have mixed relationship with my cousins and because their mom was estranged from my grandpa, they never had a nice word to say about him and I don't know if they ever met him. To be fair, they probably never had the chance to get to know him like I did. Cousins and aunt did not attend the very small funeral I set up for my grandpa either.
Now she and my cousins have been basically calling me nonstop somewhere between begging me and demanding of me that I split the estate 5 ways.
This is what both of my attorneys have essentially advised: No matter what I shouldn't split the estate 5 ways. If I do decide to be incredibly generous, it should be split 50/50 and my aunt and cousins can divide their half however they like. Both attorneys have advised against this period, as it's not in my best interest.
I can write 4 $5000 checks out of the estate to get them to go away. $5000 in our state's probate system is generally seen as "enough" of an inheritance to be essentially be uncontestable and my aunt and cousins will have no further claim on my grandpas estate, or none that a judge would be willing to hear. The first attorney strongly advised I do this.
I do nothing. I am carrying out my grandpa's wishes to the letter and that is my responsibility and also my benefit for staying close to him in his lifetime. This is my second attorney's preferred course of action.
But this is not about the legality of the situation. This is about what SHOULD I do and would I be the asshole if I keep the entire estate for myself. Just over a million dollars is enough money for me to finally fund a retirement account, have a down payment on a decent house and actually save some money. I have no designs on a big blow out but maybe updating my car would be nice. I could do all of that with $500k, but that number sure looks different that $1 million.
Basically, WIBTA if I don't share this inheritance like my aunt and cousins are asking of me?
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