Woman Promises Dying Dad She'll Care for Her Ailing Mom — but After She Sees the Will, She Reconsiders

Mar. 15, 2025

Stock photo of woman and elderly mom.Photo:Getty

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A 40-year-old woman seeks support from the Reddit community after finding herself in a difficult situation involving her elderly mother’s will and her late father’s wishes.

The woman has been the primary caregiver for her 85-year-old mother since her father died last year. However, her relationship with her parents has always been complicated. “Growing up, my parents have always had favorites between me and my brother,” she writes in theReddit post.

“My brother was my mother’s favorite, and I was my dad’s favorite,” she continues. “And because of that, it sort of balanced out.” While this dynamic was not ideal, it seemed to work for their family, until recent events threw everything into disarray.

Stock photo of woman discussing will with lawyer.Getty

Despite not being particularly close to her mother, the poster stepped up for her after losing her father, she writes. She did this out of a sense of duty and to honor her father’s dying wish. However, the woman’s world was turned upside down when she learned of her mother’s plans for her will.

According to a friend of her late father, the mother intends to leave almost everything to the woman’s brother, she says. This includes the majority of the financial inheritance, family heirlooms and the family home.

The woman is particularly upset about the house, as her father had always intended for her to have it, she shares. “My father wanted to give the house to me, but decided not to do so, because he didn’t want to make my mother homeless,” the woman writes.

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This was particularly hard for the poster since she held off buying a house of her own, as she expected to inherit the family home.

Stock photo of elderly woman and son.Getty

Now, the poster is at a crossroads. “I feel like I should just cut my support for her, sign away my rights as her healthcare proxy, and never talk to her again,” she admits. “But, I also feel conflicted if I did so, because I’ll be betraying my dad’s death wish.”

Stock photo of woman and mother.Getty

To add another layer of complexity to the matter, the woman reveals in an edit that her father left her a significant inheritance — about $5.5 million — which was meant for both personal use and her mother’s medical care.

The poster emphasizes she’s not upset about her brother receiving the majority of her mother’s financial assets or family heirlooms; her main issue lies with the family home, which holds sentimental value to the woman.

Commenters are telling her to first give herself grace — and then consult a lawyer.

“In most countries if there isn’t provision for all children in the will it is easily challenged / over turned,” one suggests, while another even writes a script she can recite to her mom voicing her feelings on the situation.

Another tells her to look at this period as a transaction.

“Document all the time you have spent caring for her, set yourself an hourly rate, total up the costs, and request payment. You may be able to recoup the time spent caregiving from the estate after she passes.”

source: people.com