A woman has detailed the conundrum she faces after receiving an inheritance from her elderly neighbor – despite the deceased having a daughter.
The 32-year-old explained she moved into her condo in 2018, and became friends with neighbor Valorie, who had been a widow for 13 years.
Valorie, who was 68, recently died, and to the woman’s surprise, left everything to her.
‘I had always thought that Valorie was alone in the world,’ the woman shared in a post to Reddit’s Am I The A**hole subreddit.
She continued, writing: ‘Turns out that Valorie had had one child, a daughter, Sam, 44. However, they had been estranged since the early 2000s.’
Valorie informed the woman that Sam came out as gay right after she graduated from high school. This revelation led the woman’s husband, Gary, to kick her out of their home.
‘He told Sam that she was no longer his daughter and kicked her out, telling her to never contact them or come home again,’ she wrote.
‘The whole situation broke Valorie’s heart and it was her biggest regret in life,’ she shared.
The woman finds herself in a dilemma after inheriting money from her elderly neighbor, even though the neighbor had a daughter.
The woman recalled Valorie expressing regret for not standing up for Sam when he came out. Despite wanting to intervene, she was too stunned to say or do anything at the time.
The woman explained that when she first heard the story she tracked Sam down on social media, and helped Valorie draft a message her where she apologized for how she treated her.
‘[She told] Sam how much her perspectives had changed over the years,’ she explained.
‘Valorie also asked if they could try and build a new relationship’ she continued. ‘We sent the message and saw that Sam had seen and maybe read the message, but Sam never responded.’
The caring neighbor explained that she had gotten home from work about a month ago to find that Valorie had sadly passed away on her balcony.
‘She had suffered an embolism,’ she explained. ‘I sent the link to her obituary and memorial page to Sam.
‘I didn’t see Sam at the funeral,’ she added. ‘There was a lawyer handling all of Valorie’s affairs. I thought that I would simple grieve the loss of my friend and eventually would have a new neighbor.’
However, the woman ended up receiving all of Valorie’s inheritance – which Sam was unhappy about.
Users wrote that although she is legally entitled to the inheritance, there are two sides to every story and it may be nice to give Sam some of her mother’s possessions, as a memory
‘A few days ago Sam messaged me. She was upset and demanded that I give her Valorie’s things,’ she explained.
The woman said that Sam claimed she had taken advantage of an old widow, which upset her.
‘I thought, “who does she think she is? She hasn’t spoken to Valorie in literal decades and never responded when Valorie tried to reach out. Now Valorie is her mother and that entitles her to Valorie’s stuff?”‘
‘Now I wonder if I should do something for Sam,’ he mused. ‘I go back and forth if Valorie would want me to. Valorie knew where Sam was, so she could have included Sam somehow.
‘The lawyer I talked to said that the inheritance is completely mine and that Sam has no claim, but should I give Sam something?’ she asked.
Users wrote that although she is legally entitled to the inheritance, there are two sides to every story and it may be nice to give Sam some of her mother’s possessions, as a memory.
‘I don’t think you need to give up any cash. But I WOULD offer her pictures and mementos in the house that she may like. Not everything mind you, but a few things that might remind her of her mom, or pictures that she’d like (if there are any),’ one user suggested.
Another chimed in saying while they don’t think she was completely in the wrong, they could see it from Sam’s point of view.
‘To be clear, Valorie was a bad parent,’ they wrote. ‘Even by her own accounting, what she did to Sam was terrible and wrong. She allowed her husband to cut their child off for being gay – or at least didn’t fight it – and remained estranged from Sam for decades afterward.
‘While her husband may be the main villain, Valorie is very far from blameless,’ they pointed out.
The user continued: ‘Reaching out to Sam with an apology was a nice thing to try, but let’s be real, Sam had every reason to rebuff her. A good person who felt truly sorry for what they did to Sam would probably have left a portion (or all) of the estate to her, even if they didn’t have much of a relationship.’
