Man's Sister-In-Law Says He's 'Lucky' To Be Rich Even Though His Money Came From A Lawsuit After Losing His Parents When He Was 17
What she said was completely hurtful and out of line — and she likely knew it, too.
YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV | Shutterstock While family drama is unavoidable, sometimes it goes too far, especially when money is involved. One woman shared her experience on Reddit and asked if she was wrong to react so strongly. Apparently, the woman's sister decided that her brother-in-law was being stingy by not sharing his wealth, which he inherited following the loss of his parents, and she was unabashedly callous in telling him so.
A man received a sizable sum of money as part of a lawsuit following the death of his parents when he was just a teenager.
“My husband lost both of his parents when he was 17,” she began her post. “Their deaths were preventable and others died alongside them, and because of this a lawsuit followed and at a young age my husband found himself orphaned but wealthy.” She added that, although the money had benefited him and his future family, he would have given it all back if it meant his parents could be with him.
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“We met a few years after he was awarded the money and we got married after dating for four years,” she continued. “We’re now the proud parents to our three kids and we have a stable life. We’re very comfortable and few know exactly how much my husband actually has.”
According to this woman, her husband handles their finances very well and uses his money to ensure that he’s taking care of his family. “We both still work very hard but the money means we are also very fortunate,” she explained.“My family (parents and sister) is aware that my husband’s parents are dead,” she said. “They also know about the lawsuit and the money that was paid to the family members. They have no idea how much my husband has … But they know and were told he’d give it all away to have his parents back.”
The fact that the woman's family was aware of the tragedy surrounding her husband's inheritance made what happened at a family dinner all the more hurtful.
“We had my family over for dinner,” she described. “My sister mentioned wanting to go away with her boyfriend for the weekend and how they were saving up to go.”
Coincidentally, this woman and her husband had recently visited the same place her sister wanted to go with her boyfriend. “My husband mentioned we had gone to the place they were talking about going to and they’d have a great time,” she stated. “She said she hoped so but she wouldn’t have the same kind of money he does. He told her we did nothing fancy there (which is 100% true).”
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“Then my sister out of nowhere said to my husband the least he could do was offer them the money for the weekend away since he could afford it,” she recalled. “I shut her down and said she wasn’t entitled to other people paying for her trips with her boyfriend. My sister responded that he could afford to send them for a month if he wanted to.”
That was when the entire situation went overboard. “My husband told her that was a big ask and she snapped at him and said he had no idea how lucky he was to be rich because she’d give anything to have that kind of money,” she recounted. “The insensitivity of the comment enraged me and I told my sister she needed to leave.”
A wrongful death lawsuit could make someone quite wealthy, but it does not undo the loss.
Although the exact circumstances surrounding the man's inheritance aren't detailed in the post, it's highly likely that there was a wrongful death lawsuit involved. This particular legal matter involves a civil suit against individuals who contributed to the loss of life. It could be from a car accident with a negligent or intoxicated driver, for example.
Assuming this woman’s husband’s money came from a wrongful death lawsuit, it’s possible he received quite a bit of money. While noting that there is no average settlement for these cases because of how vastly they differ, GJEL Accident Attorneys acknowledged that such a settlement could “range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.”
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Money is a continual sore point for most families and a cause of jealousy, so it’s not necessarily surprising that his sister-in-law felt this way. Chances are, her "lucky" comment was said without actually thinking it through, but that doesn't negate its callousness.
The woman was right to ask her sister to leave, and once emotions have cooled a bit, perhaps the sister will realize that she owes her brother-in-law-in-law an apology.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.