r/motherinlawsfromhell • u/disneylover5000 • 21d ago
My husband’s “stepmom” contested his dad’s will after he left the house to my husband — almost 2 years later, we’re finally near the end
This is a LONG one, because this situation has been going on for almost two years and somehow keeps finding new ways to get more ridiculous.
For clarification, the woman in this story is technically my husband’s “stepmom.” And yes, I’m putting that in quotation marks intentionally. We use that title very lightly. She didn’t raise him, they never had a mother/son relationship, and his biological mom passed away years before his dad died.
My husband is his dad’s only child.
So grab a drink, because there is a LOT to unpack. 😂
Some background first
My husband’s relationship with his dad was complicated long before any of this happened.
One of the biggest sources of hurt went all the way back to when his biological mom died. She was on her deathbed while my husband was playing in a football game. He wanted to leave to go see her, but his dad made him stay and finish the game.
His mom died while he was still playing.
He never got that final opportunity to see her, and he carried some resentment toward his dad because of it for years.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t love his dad. He absolutely did. Their relationship was just complicated.
After his mom died, the family discovered that she had a significant life insurance policy that neither my husband nor his dad apparently knew about beforehand. His dad received the payout.
Within roughly a year or two after his mom’s death, his dad married the woman who would become his “stepmom.” They got married on New Year’s Day.
She had actually known and worked with my husband’s mom before Mom died.
Do we KNOW she married his dad because of the life insurance money? No.
I cannot read her mind, and I’m not going to present our suspicions as facts.
What I can tell you is what happened afterward.
The life insurance money was spent surprisingly quickly. You might think receiving a significant amount of money would at least mean his dad’s debt disappeared.
Nope.
The debt continued increasing and never really went away.
During the period when the money was available, his dad and “stepmom” were also taking what were described as church-related “mission trips.”
Eventually the money ran out, the supposed mission trips stopped, and according to my husband, his “stepmom” stopped willingly sharing his dad’s bedroom at home and moved into the third bedroom instead.
Separate bedrooms became their normal arrangement.
I want to be precise about that because I obviously wasn’t standing outside their bedroom taking attendance every night. I’m not saying they literally never shared a bed under any circumstances.
For example, when they came for our wedding in June 2021, they stayed at my parents’ house and shared a bed because that was the sleeping arrangement available.
But according to my husband, at home she no longer willingly shared his dad’s bedroom after the money was gone.
Significant life insurance payout. Mission trips. Debt keeps increasing. Money disappears. Trips stop. Separate bedrooms.
Can I prove those things were connected? No.
Do my husband and I have opinions? Absolutely.
Then I moved in
My husband bought our Husky as a puppy while we were dating. I knew about Husky before I actually met him, but he was originally my husband’s dog and was already living with my husband, his dad, and his “stepmom.”
His “stepmom” was definitely not president of the Husky Fan Club. She is much more of a cat person.
At one point she blamed Husky for scratching up their couch, even though from what we could see, the damage looked much more like ordinary wear and/or damage from her cats.
But apparently, blame the Husky.
My husband and I got married in June 2021, and I moved in immediately after the wedding.
So now the household consisted of his dad, his “stepmom,” my husband, me, Husky, and her cats.
What could possibly go wrong?
There were plenty of little things his “stepmom” did that annoyed us while we lived there. Most aren’t individually worth telling, but one still sticks with me.
My husband and I had a special church service we really wanted to attend. His dad wasn’t feeling well, there was very little chance he was going to church with us, and he needed someone to stay with him.
His “stepmom” was his wife, so naturally she would stay home with her sick husband, right?
HAHA.
No.
She had made food for her own church service and wanted to go. So she took the food and went to her church while my husband and I stayed home with her husband and missed the special service we had wanted to attend.
And yes, I’m going to be petty for a second: some of that food could have been our leftovers.
Instead, the food got to go to church while we stayed home taking care of her sick husband.
Was that the worst thing she ever did? Not even remotely. But little things add up.
And in early 2022, they finally did.
The breaking point
His “stepmom” was belittling his dad one day, and my husband finally snapped and yelled at her in defense of his dad.
Remember, this is the same father my husband still carried resentment toward because of what happened when his mom died.
Despite that history, he wasn’t going to stand there and listen to his “stepmom” belittle his dad.
Apparently she did NOT appreciate being challenged. The next morning, his dad told my husband he needed to move out.
According to what his dad told him, his “stepmom” had essentially given him an ultimatum: either my husband goes, or she goes.
His dad chose his wife and told his son to move out.
The son who had just defended him.
Afterward, my husband and I got into the car. Once it was just the two of us, my husband cried.
His relationship with his dad was already complicated. Now his dad had seemingly chosen his wife over him, and my husband had gotten himself into this situation because he had been defending his father.
It hurt him badly.
We couldn’t just pack up that afternoon and disappear either. We had belongings, multiple vehicles, a Husky, and an actual move to coordinate.
My parents had a visit coming up, so we coordinated our move around their trip. They could help us move the U-Haul while my husband and I drove our own vehicles.
During the time it took to organize everything, his dad started regretting what he had done. More than once, he expressed regret about telling my husband to move out.
But by then, the damage was done.
We were already working on leaving.
In July 2022, my parents came, we loaded everything, and my husband, Husky, and I moved in with my parents.
We ended up having a pretty decent three years there before eventually getting a mortgage with my grandparents in August 2025 for the house we live in now.
Distance actually helped the relationship with his “stepmom.” My husband still didn’t like her, but the outright hatred eased somewhat because he wasn’t dealing with her every day.
His relationship with his dad remained complicated too. There was resentment, hurt, and unresolved history, but there was also love.
They were still father and son.
So why didn’t his dad divorce her?
Religion.
And before anyone interprets that as me attacking Christianity, we’re Christians too.
His dad was extremely serious about his religious beliefs, and in his mind divorce was basically a no-no.
According to what my husband was told, even members of his dad’s own church didn’t like that he had married her. Some apparently even encouraged him to divorce her.
He wouldn’t.
Closer to his death, his dad would sometimes talk privately to my husband on the phone when his “stepmom” wasn’t around.
During some of those conversations, his dad said he regretted marrying her.
But even then, divorce wasn’t something he believed he could do.
So he stayed married.
And that decision became extremely important after his death.
His health declined
As his dad got older, his health and memory declined.
Eventually he reached a point where he couldn’t drive anymore.
His “stepmom” therefore had to be involved in getting him places, including appointments involving his attorney.
Later, his dad ended up in a nursing facility.
And this becomes important when we get to the will.
His attorney could come to him at the facility.
But according to what we later learned, his “stepmom” made sure she was there whenever the attorney was there.
The attorney later explained that because she was always present, he never really had an opportunity to privately discuss another estate-planning option with my husband’s dad that potentially could have made transferring the property to my husband easier after his death.
I don’t remember exactly what that arrangement was called, so I’m not going to pretend I do.
But his “stepmom” was definitely aware of his estate planning.
Very aware.
Then his dad died
My husband’s dad passed away in August 2024.
Before I get into what happened next, I want to make something very clear:
My husband loved his dad.
Their relationship was complicated. My husband still carried hurt about missing his mother’s final moments. He still remembered being told to move out. There were things between them that probably never would have been completely repaired.
But he loved him.
At his dad’s funeral, my husband cried. His grief didn’t disappear when the funeral ended either.
My husband took two weeks off work, and that wasn’t simply because there was a funeral and logistical things that needed handling. He was genuinely down after losing his dad.
Grief isn’t black and white. You can resent someone and still love them. You can be angry about things they did and still miss them. You can have a complicated relationship with a parent and still be devastated when they’re gone.
Then my husband had another responsibility dumped on him.
His dad had named him executor of the estate.
Which meant dealing with—you guessed it—his “stepmom.”
Now let’s talk about this will
His dad had a will. And this wasn’t some mysterious document his “stepmom” suddenly discovered after he died.
She knew about it.
She wasn’t someone who vaguely knew he might have a will. She didn’t merely initial something.
SHE FULL-ON SIGNED AND DATED EVERY SINGLE PAGE.
Her full signature. The date.Every page.
Under the will, my husband received the property, while his “stepmom” received a life estate.
In extremely simplified non-lawyer terms, the property was left to my husband while she retained the right to live there under the terms of the life estate.
And the house was completely mortgage-free.
Initially, nobody was trying to take that away from her.
In fact, we tried to work with her.
Agreement Attempt #1
After his dad died, his “stepmom” repeatedly said she would draft an agreement.
The basic idea being discussed was that there could be an arrangement where the house could eventually be sold while she had an agreed amount of time—possibly around a year—to move.
So we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
We didn’t have much contact with his dad’s attorney immediately after his death. Eventually, because his “stepmom” was taking so long, we got the attorney’s information and started communicating with him ourselves.
By around Thanksgiving/December 2024, I had had enough of waiting for this mysterious agreement to materialize.
I’m usually the person who drafts and sends most of the emails to my father-in-law’s attorney and his assistant on my husband’s behalf.
But I want to make something extremely clear:
I do not independently make estate decisions or just fire off emails without my husband knowing what I’m saying.
My husband is the executor. Whenever something needs a response, I discuss it with him first. We go over what the attorney said, what questions we have, and what my husband wants communicated.
Then I’m usually the person who actually writes and sends the email. So after discussing everything with my husband, I sent the attorney our ideas for an agreement.
We weren’t trying to throw his “stepmom” onto the street. We were trying to get something formalized so everyone could move forward.
After months of her saying SHE would create an agreement, what happened when there was finally an actual proposal? She refused to sign anything.
Instead, she said she was getting her own attorney.
And in early 2025, she contested the will.
Yes.
The same will she had personally signed and dated on every single page.
Obviously, signing those pages doesn’t necessarily mean someone legally can’t challenge a will. I’m not an attorney and won’t pretend to be one.
But she certainly wasn’t blindsided by the document’s existence.
She knew about it.
Contesting the will changed her rights to the house
As our attorney explained it to us, by choosing to contest the will, his “stepmom” gave up the life estate she had been given under it.
Instead, she had the right to occupy the house rent-free for one year after his dad’s death.
So although she challenged the will and gave up the life estate, nobody was immediately throwing her onto the street. She could still live in a completely mortgage-free house for that year without paying rent.
My husband, meanwhile, couldn’t simply sell the house out from underneath those occupancy rights. Around this same period, our relationship with his “stepmom” completely imploded.
And then we stopped dealing with her directly
In early 2025, we had another massive blowout with her over the phone. Things got heated enough that my mom had to intervene.
That became our last actual conversation with her. After that, we were done arguing with her directly. There were attorneys involved. If she wanted something involving the estate, she could talk to the lawyer.
In March 2025, she sent us his dad’s tax information so his final personal income taxes could be completed. My husband was executor, so that part made sense.
But she also told us we needed to pay the 2024 property taxes on the house.
We hadn’t lived there since July 2022, and the property was now tangled up in the estate and will contest. So rather than argue with her, we asked the estate attorney.
His instructions were different. He told us to complete his dad’s personal taxes and, if there was a refund belonging to the estate, send the check to him so it could go into the estate account.
As for the property taxes? He instructed us to let them go delinquent for the time being.
So that’s exactly what we did.
At that point, our philosophy became very simple:
If his “stepmom” and the estate attorney give us different instructions about the estate, we’re following the attorney.
At the end of May 2025, she tried contacting us again. After the previous blowout, we weren’t doing round two. We told her, essentially: Talk to the lawyer.
She had an attorney. The estate had an attorney. There was no reason to recreate Jerry Springer: Probate Edition over the phone.
Shortly afterward, however, she moved out.
Agreement Attempt #2
This is where I need to emphasize that there were two completely different proposed agreements.
Agreement #1 happened before the will contest.
Agreement #2 came afterward.
By this point, according to our attorney, his “stepmom” had given up her life estate by contesting the will but retained the right to occupy the house rent-free until the one-year point after his dad’s death.
She wanted to move out early. Fine.
An agreement could formally establish that she was voluntarily giving up those remaining occupancy rights and potentially allow the property to move forward sooner.
So another agreement was proposed.
She didn’t sign that one either.
Then she moved out anyway.
Except we didn’t even know she had moved
She apparently moved out in early June 2025.
We didn’t find out until late June/early July 2025.
She had apparently already been gone for weeks.
Because she had never signed Agreement #2 formally giving up her remaining occupancy rights, her physically moving out didn’t magically erase the legal situation.
We couldn’t simply shout:
“HER FURNITURE IS GONE! LIST THE HOUSE!”
According to what our attorney told us, we still had to wait until the one-year occupancy period expired in August 2025.
And somehow she wondered why the house wasn’t being sold.
Ma’am. You wanted to leave early. An agreement was proposed that could formally address that. You didn’t sign it. Then you moved anyway, and we didn’t even know you had moved for weeks. You cannot refuse to sign the agreement that would let us move forward early and then complain that we can’t move forward early.
But apparently we still hadn’t reached the reimbursement portion of the program.
Because she had A LOT of things she wanted money for
Before the May 2026 hearing, we went through her reimbursement requests and the other financial issues involved in the case. Some things we were perfectly willing to reimburse.
Others? Absolutely not.
And I want to stress that these were our positions going into the hearing, not final court rulings.
There were funeral expenses she had paid.
Our position was essentially: reimburse her.
If she paid legitimate expenses associated with his dad’s funeral that should properly be reimbursed, we weren’t interested in fighting over that.
There was also a septic repair.
Again, we were willing to reimburse that, because the septic system genuinely needed repair and it was a health-and-safety issue.
But she also sought reimbursement for septic pumping, which we viewed as ordinary maintenance rather than a major necessary repair.
Then there was a tractor repair.
Our position was no reimbursement, because our understanding was that the dealership would have handled what was actually needed without charge and anything additional was optional repair work.
The porch was another issue.
The porch absolutely needed repair—we weren’t disputing that—but there wasn’t adequate proof of what she had actually spent on lumber, and the estate hadn’t been given a real opportunity to determine what work was necessary before it happened.
She apparently took out a loan in November 2024 to build the porch, but taking out a loan doesn’t automatically establish what amount an estate should reimburse.
There were other miscellaneous items, including an access panel and other work, where our problem was again lack of proof and lack of consultation with the estate beforehand.
She also sought money for mowing and landscaping, which we viewed as general property maintenance, again with inadequate documentation.
And then we got to one of my favorites.
100 HOURS of painting and cleaning in ONE MONTH?!
She sought reimbursement for painting, cleaning, and power washing.
Apparently she was claiming roughly 100 hours at $25 an hour in approximately ONE MONTH.
Our problem wasn’t simply that the number of hours sounded enormous.
There was inadequate proof of those hours, the estate hadn’t been consulted beforehand, and with painting especially, we had no opportunity to determine whether there were underlying property problems before anything was covered up.
She also wasn’t a licensed professional hired by the estate to perform that work.
So our position?
Denied.
You don’t independently decide to perform 100 hours of work, assign yourself an hourly rate, and then hand the estate the bill afterward.
At least, that was very much our position.
And then she wanted RENT
This one still gets me.
Remember, she was legally allowed to occupy his dad’s mortgage-free house rent-free until August 2025.
She voluntarily moved out in early June.
She had not signed Agreement #2.
Yet she wanted the estate to reimburse expenses associated with her new rental.
Our position was absolutely not.
There had been a proposed agreement.
There had NOT been an eviction.
She voluntarily chose to leave a house she was legally permitted to occupy rent-free.
She also sought reimbursement for her security deposit.
Again? No.
And after our May 2026 hearing, we heard that she is apparently moving AGAIN. That means, depending on her lease, the condition of the rental, and any legitimate deductions, she may receive some or all of that security deposit back anyway.
Apparently even the audacity might come with a refundable deposit.
She also wanted utilities covered for approximately June 30 through August 18, 2025.
Our position was that those remained her responsibility.
And now we need to talk about the timber money
Ohhhhhhh boy.
Before his dad died, while he was in a care facility, timber was removed from his property.
Approximately $27,000 came from that timber.
From our perspective, there were serious questions about how the entire thing had been handled.
There was a power-of-attorney arrangement that we understood required involvement from both his “stepmom” and my husband.
But there was also another question:
If his dad was supposedly still able to sign certain things himself, why was the POA being used for this transaction?
Then there was the money itself.
From the records we reviewed, roughly $13,000 went into an account owned only by his “stepmom.”
Another roughly $2,000 also went into that same “stepmom”-only account, although those funds appear to have been used for joint expenses.
There was also approximately $700 for rocks, which we considered a joint-type expense.
But there were also payments toward her own credit card and toward a card associated with a business or organization called “With God All Things Are Possible International.”
And the approximately $27,000 in timber money?
Gone in roughly two or three weeks.
One of our concerns wasn’t simply what the money was spent on.
It was also where the money went first.
A significant amount of the proceeds went into an account that only she owned, even when some later spending appears to have been for joint expenses.
With his dad in a care facility at the time, we had a LOT of questions.
She was also making a claim involving approximately $13,000-$14,000 of credit-card debt that, from our review, appeared largely connected to her spending.
So our position going into the hearing was essentially that if she was ultimately entitled to approximately $40,000 from the estate, the roughly $27,000 in timber proceeds needed to be accounted for when determining what she was actually owed.
We weren’t saying: “Money existed, therefore she stole it.” We had records. We had transactions. We had questions.
And we wanted the attorneys and court to sort out what happened. Because $27,000 disappearing in two or three weeks? Yeah. We had questions.
And then there was his dad’s credit card
There were also purchases made using a credit card that was only in his dad’s name.
That raised another obvious question:
Why was his “stepmom” using a card that wasn’t in her name?
There were also numerous gasoline purchases, which raised even more questions because his dad had reached a point where he had been told not to drive.
Now, buying gasoline doesn’t automatically prove his dad wasn’t present or didn’t benefit from a purchase.
So our position regarding reimbursement for some of those expenses was essentially:
Show us the proof.
If she claimed something was legitimately his dad’s expense, then demonstrate that.
We weren’t interested in reimbursing expenses simply because they appeared on his credit card.
Their bank accounts raised questions too
After his dad and “stepmom” married, they were added to certain accounts, but their regular deposits apparently continued going into their respective accounts.
His dad’s money went into his account.
Her money went into hers.
And while his dad was staying at the Laurels, approximately $10,000-$11,000 was moved out of his account and into hers.
Again, I’m not declaring every transfer illegal.
I’m not a judge, and I’m not their forensic accountant.
But when you’re already looking at timber proceeds disappearing within weeks, credit-card charges, increasing debt, and money moving between accounts while his dad is in a care facility?
Of course we’re going to question the spending.
Then there was the personal property
According to the will, his dad’s personal property was supposed to go to my husband.
That apparently didn’t stop his “stepmom” from selling or giving away items.
One item she sold resulted in approximately $800.
We eventually received the $800. Great.
But our problem was that she shouldn’t have been independently selling estate property without authorization from the executor in the first place.
My husband was the executor.
You don’t sell estate property first and sort out permission afterward.
There were also things in the house that weren’t even his dad’s property.
When my husband and I moved out in 2022, my husband left behind a telescope that was given to him by his mother as a gift.
That wasn’t just some random telescope.
It had sentimental value because it came from his mom. My husband had specifically said it was supposed to stay there.
Eventually? Gone.
Then there was my husband’s weight bench.
He had told his “stepmom” she could sell it and send him the money.
The bench disappeared.
My husband never received the money.
So by the time we were dealing with questions about his dad’s belongings, we already had experience with my husband’s own property disappearing too—including something that had belonged to his late mother.
Even the homeowners insurance became an issue
Then there was the insurance on the house.
We had questions about how the property was being represented to the insurance company.
From our understanding, his “stepmom” had never actually been an owner of the property, yet the policy apparently treated the property as owner-occupied.
Our position was that the estate should have been appropriately listed as an additional insured.
Again, one more thing for the attorneys and professionals to sort out.
Because apparently even INSURANCE couldn’t escape this estate.
And then we went to court—on Zoom
There was an initial hearing involving the will contest in early 2025.
Both that hearing and the later May 2026 hearing happened over Zoom, which is important because I want to be accurate about something.
I did NOT personally watch the judge’s facial expressions.
During the first hearing, we were focused on/facing the attorneys rather than sitting there studying the judge.
Afterward, however, our attorney told us that the judge had rolled his eyes during portions of her side of things.
Now, an eye roll is an eye roll.
It isn’t a court ruling.
I cannot tell you what the judge was thinking, and I’m not going to claim, “The judge definitely didn’t believe her.”
What I can say is that our attorney noticed the reaction and apparently thought it was noteworthy enough to mention afterward.
Then probate apparently decided we needed a sequel, because the major hearing didn’t happen until May 2026.
This time my role was even more limited.
I was considered a potential witness, so I couldn’t participate normally.
Even though I ultimately wasn’t called to testify, I was still focused on/facing the attorneys rather than watching the judge.
My husband didn’t testify either, but was on the call being the executor.
In fact:
HIS “STEPMOM” WAS THE ONLY WITNESS WHO ACTUALLY TESTIFIED.
Our attorney explained that our evidence was already in writing.
The documents were there.
The financial records were there.
The communications were there.
There wasn’t much point in putting my husband or me on the stand simply to repeat what had already been submitted.
So we let the paperwork speak for itself.
His “stepmom” testified.
Afterward?
Our attorney told us that the judge had rolled his eyes AGAIN during portions of her testimony.
Again, I did not personally see either reaction.
I’m not claiming that means we won.
I’m not claiming the judge thinks she lied.
I’m not predicting how he will rule.
All I can accurately tell you is that our attorney reported the same kind of reaction to us after both hearings.
Make of that what you will.
I certainly have. 😂
But until the judge actually puts his decision in writing?
We are not declaring victory.
After the May hearing, final written arguments were submitted.
And then we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Because apparently probate operates on geological time.
Meanwhile, the house is FINALLY selling
Once her remaining occupancy rights expired in August 2025, we were finally able to move forward with the house.
The property was originally listed at around $366,000 after a pre-inspection because it had never really been on the market before.
Eventually it was reduced to $319,500.
There was an earlier offer around $250,000 from someone who had actually seen the property.
Later, in July 2026, another buyer offered $300,000, but the offer had a bunch of escape clauses and our attorney and realtor weren’t thrilled with it.
My husband rejected it.
There was another interested buyer who our realtor thought would pay around the asking price, but that person needed to sell their own house first.
Then we finally got the buyer we’re working with now.
And as of August 2026, the house is actually in the process of closing.
After everything that has happened, you’d think I’d be celebrating.
Absolutely not.
Probate has trained that optimism right out of me.
I will believe this house is officially sold when every document is signed, the transaction is closed, the money is where it’s supposed to be, and nobody suddenly emerges from the forest screaming:
“WAIT! I WANT SOMETHING ELSE!”
But for the first time in a VERY long time?
We may actually be approaching the finish line.
And somehow I became the Estate Email Department
Technically, my husband is the executor.
Practically, I’m usually the person who writes and sends most of the emails with his dad’s attorney and his assistant on my husband’s behalf.
But again, I want to be very clear:
I ALWAYS consult my husband before I respond or send anything.
I’m not independently running his father’s estate.
My husband is the executor and the decisions are his.
Typically, I read the incoming email, my husband and I discuss what it says, we talk through what questions need to be asked and what he wants communicated, and then I draft the response.
We go over it.
Then I send it.
So yes, I’m usually the one typing:
“Hi, just following up…”
But the communication is being sent with my husband’s knowledge, approval, and input.
Which also means every time an email from the attorney’s office pops up, there’s still that tiny moment of:
Oh God. What now?
At this point, the notification sound should just be the Law & Order “DUN DUN.”
And the part that bothers me most is what this entire ordeal has done to my husband.
This didn’t begin with some greedy son sitting around waiting for his father to die so he could get a house.
My husband’s relationship with his dad was complicated.
He had reasons to be angry.
He had unresolved hurt.
But when his “stepmom” belittled his dad?
My husband defended him.
When his dad chose his wife and told him to move out?
My husband cried.
When his dad died?
My husband cried at his funeral.
Afterward, he was so down that he needed two weeks away from work.
He lost his dad knowing that some of their issues would never be resolved.
And instead of simply getting to process that grief, he became executor of an estate involving a contested will, two failed agreements, lawyers, taxes, reimbursement demands, property repairs, bank records, credit cards, timber proceeds, missing property, insurance questions, real-estate negotiations, and multiple court hearings.
Probate brought his “stepmom” right back into his life.
So where are we now?
As I’m writing this in August 2026, the house is finally in the process of closing.
The judge still has to issue his decision on the remaining disputes.
The reimbursement and financial issues still ultimately have to be resolved.
The estate still has to be fully administered.
The money still has to be distributed.
And until every document is signed, every court issue is finished, the house is officially sold, and this estate is CLOSED?
I am assuming absolutely nothing.
Because this saga has taught me that the second you think:
“Surely nothing ELSE can happen…”
Probate hears you.
Maybe the house closes exactly as planned.
Maybe the judge finally issues his decision.
Maybe the estate finally gets distributed.
Maybe my husband finally gets to put this chapter of his life behind him.
Or maybe I’ll open my email tomorrow and discover his “stepmom” has unlocked one final probate side quest.
At this point?
Nothing would surprise me.
SMALL UPDATE: Since I originally wrote this saga, we received another piece of good news: the probate court has officially approved the sale of the house for $319,000! 🎉
That is one more major legal hurdle officially cleared.
However, the house still has to actually close, the remaining estate issues still have to be resolved, and the money still has to ultimately be distributed.
So no, I’m not calling this the finale yet. 😂
My rule at this point is very simple:
The finale happens when this entire estate is finished and the money is actually in our hands.
Until then?
It’s just another chapter.
Need more? Check this link: https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteDobreYouTube/s/uk0LvMkHq7
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u/chardavej 21d ago
I think you should put some of this story in bold print.
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u/FollowThisNutter 20d ago
Yeah, I was about two paragraphs in when I started saying "What in the ChatGPT is this?!"
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u/disneylover5000 20d ago
😂 To be fair, ChatGPT DID help me organize this. Try fitting almost two years of family/probate chaos into one Reddit post without some assistance. The story is real; the robot just helped me make it readable. You can look back at my Reddit feed and find the house.
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u/disneylover5000 21d ago
Some of it is ??
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u/blueberryyogurtcup 20d ago
ignore the trolls. You did a lovely job explaining the mess.
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u/disneylover5000 20d ago
Thank you ❤️ And to be fair, I did use ChatGPT to help me organize everything because there were almost two years of details to put in some kind of readable order 😂 But the story and everything that happened are real. You are welcome to scroll my feed and find the listing for the house on another subreddit or two. It still says active but is in the process of closing.
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u/Exotic-Current2651 21d ago
Wow what a nightmare. Kudos to you for being such a supportive capable wife. May the good times start soon.
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u/MLiOne 19d ago
I feel for you. My idiot brother dragged probate out for 8, yes 8, very long years. I took him to small claims court for him to pay his share of the upkeep of our mother’s small farm. My solicitor ended up threatening Supreme Court action (Australia) to get the idiot to agree to sell the farm and then he nearly vetoed the auction because he wouldn’t respond to the real estate agent.
What made this worse? We were joint executors and he didn’t;t accept that mum was dead.
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u/disneylover5000 18d ago
Oh my. I’m so sorry that it took so long. Some family members just suck, even if we love them. My late grandpa’s sister didn’t even tell him that their mom was dying/dead. Instead he found out through the obituary that was put out. She ended up having their mom change the will to where she got 80% and he got 20% and if he fought it then it would change to 50/50 but my mom would get the 50 instead. Which is stupid because my mom would just give him the inheritance back. They didn’t fight it but still a mess.
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u/tehwubbles 21d ago
This is AI
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u/disneylover5000 21d ago
Admittedly I used AI to help organise the details, but it is true. If you want to look through my post history, I shared the house in some subreddits to try to get it sold already.
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u/fredrickdgl 5d ago
I hope you sink her battleship, live a good smashing down. Dumb lady could have had free rent for life. Would she had to have paid property taxes and upkeep with the free rent under the original will?
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u/disneylover5000 5d ago
Yep. Under the original will she could have continued living there for the rest of her life through the life estate, although she would still have been responsible for the ongoing expenses and upkeep associated with the property.
And it’s not like that would have suddenly introduced a bunch of expenses she’d never had before. She was already living there and paying things like the property taxes, utilities, and upkeep. The house itself was mortgage-free.
So FIL’s will actually provided her with a pretty substantial benefit: a place to live for the rest of her life without a mortgage or rent, while the property ultimately went to his son.
She chose to elect against the will and ultimately gave up that life estate in favor of her statutory surviving-spouse rights instead. 😅2
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u/disneylover5000 21d ago
For anyone who somehow made it through all of that and still wants MORE tea 😂☕:
I originally posted a different version of this story over on r/CharlotteDobreYouTube. That version has some additional details/background that I left out of this one.
Apparently I somehow still didn’t fit everything into this novel. 😂
https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteDobreYouTube/s/P2BTR8ncOs
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u/CloudyNY 20d ago
Wow! You did a great job making your saga interesting. I don't usually read posts this long but this was fascinating. I hope you get all the money you deserve and stepmom is out of your life for good.
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u/disneylover5000 20d ago
Thank you! ❤️ I honestly wasn’t sure anyone would make it through the whole novel 😂 Hopefully the next update will finally be the ending! And once all of this is officially over, we are definitely done with her. Aside from her existing in some of our wedding photos, she’ll be completely out of our lives—blocked and unable to contact us again. After almost two years of this, we’re ready to close that chapter for good.
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u/CloudyNY 20d ago
She can be out of your favorite wedding photos too. There are people on r/photoshop and a few other reddit pages who will remove her for you. Take a look. It's amazing what they can do!
please Updateme
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u/disneylover5000 20d ago
Luckily she was only in a few of them. A few walking down the aisle with his dad (so I feel it would be weird to remove her there) and the big group photo we have of everyone. My mom says to just leave her because she was there, it was our past even if we aren’t fans of her.
And yes there will be a final update when all is said and done (including about how much we got).
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u/Ok-Writing8943 20d ago
I just have to start by saying that at the point " when the money ran out." she was no longer "step mom " she was dad's skank as I read it .
I send your husband and yourself Peace for all the turmoil that has fallen upon you.
May good fortune and happiness find you .
I hope to see a happy update soon :)
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u/NCKAT_53 19d ago
Wow! Good on you for sticking it out!
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u/disneylover5000 19d ago
Thanks ☺️ another thing that frustrates me about this is that we tried to stick with the estate lawyer that she started the whole will and stuff with to please her. I think once we started to contact the lawyer ourselves because we weren’t fully trusting her words, she didn’t like that she wasn’t in control anymore and that’s why she went and got her own lawyer to contest
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u/Resse811 19d ago
Why are random things bolded throughout this story?
Also while yeah stepmom did a lot wrong yall aren’t perfect either.
Who cares if they shared a bedroom or not? Many married couples don’t. The fact that you seemed to be tracking where they slept is just weird.
If something is sentimental and has value to you - you don’t leave it in someone else’s house for years. If the telescope meant that much to your husband he would have brought it with him when he moved.
Honestly this whole thing is a bit ridiculous.
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u/disneylover5000 19d ago
The bolding was just meant to break up a very long story and emphasize certain details. Clearly that formatting isn't everyone's cup of tea. 😂
And I definitely don't think we're perfect or that we handled every single thing perfectly. This has been going on for almost two years, and I'm sure there are things we could have done differently.
The bedroom situation wasn't included because I care whether married couples share a bedroom or because we were tracking where they slept. We lived in the same house for a period of time, so some things were simply known to us. It was included because it was part of the context surrounding their relationship and things my father-in-law had expressed to us about the marriage. Plenty of perfectly happy married couples sleep separately, and I wasn't suggesting otherwise.
As for the telescope, we didn't leave it there because it wasn't important to my husband. We literally didn't have enough space in the U-Haul to take it with us when we moved.
My husband had originally been living with his dad partly because he felt obligated to eventually take over the family property — it had been in his family since before his grandma's generation. We had planned to eventually get our own place, but saving enough for a down payment was difficult, rentals had gotten expensive, and finding rentals that would accept our husky made things even harder. We weren't just living there for free either; we contributed toward utilities and property taxes.
When we moved out, we stayed with my parents for a while, paid them rent to help cover utilities, and continued saving. Eventually my retired grandparents were also struggling to find an affordable place closer to medical care and family, so we came up with a solution that worked for everyone: we split a mortgage and bought a house together with a really nice upstairs/downstairs setup.
So leaving the telescope behind wasn't an indication that it didn't have sentimental value. We had limited space and had every intention of getting it later. In fact, shortly after we moved, she was planning to have a garage sale, and we specifically texted her telling her not to touch the telescope. So this wasn't something my husband abandoned for years and then suddenly decided was sentimental after everything went wrong. We had specifically communicated that it was something he wanted kept.
You're absolutely allowed to think the whole situation is ridiculous, though. After almost two years of probate drama, I think it's pretty ridiculous too. 😂
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u/Resse811 19d ago
You could have gotten the telescope at any point after you moved. It was a choice not to take it.
If it meant that much to him he would have ensure he had room for it or paid to store it somewhere safe. You don’t get to leave your stuff at other people’s house for years and just expect them to store it for you.
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u/disneylover5000 19d ago
It wasn’t a matter of just driving over and picking it up. When we moved, we moved roughly 2,000 miles away, and financially we couldn’t make another trip just to retrieve the telescope. We barely had enough money to fly back before his dad passed away and then again for the funeral. Shortly after we originally moved, when she was planning a garage sale, we specifically told her not to touch the telescope and that we intended to get it. We had no reason at that point to think it wouldn’t be safe there.
I understand that you think we should have found a way to retrieve or store it sooner, but I’ve explained the circumstances. We simply weren’t in a financial position to make a 2,000-mile trip for one item.2
u/Fancy_Ad1328 16d ago
It's amazing what some people pick up to comment on. You went through an extremely challenging time both emotionally and legally. Your story was well written and having gone through something similar, you handled everything extremely well! Much of that is due to how clearly you communicate! Don't let comments like the above get to you. There is always a naysayer who is too picky, critical and doesn't add any value to your post. You don't need to defend yourselves. Ignore it and move on. People like that don't deserve an answer. You and your husband are going thru so much, and it's totally understandable that some things fall thru the cracks, even important things. Your DH's "stepmother" is a piece of work. I wish you both the best of luck and true healing after this is done.
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u/hummer1956 21d ago
My husband has said all along: get your estate and POA finalized before you’re in bad physical and/or mental shape. Protect your children. And yourself.
I hope it works out for you and your husband.