My two sisters and I are still in mourning after losing our father this past month. It was completely unexpected, as he was in very good health and a workout fanatic. I’m the oldest of my siblings, so my mother broke the news to me first. She and our father have been divorced since I and the girls were little. When I told my sisters he was gone, they were, of course, devastated, but none of us expected the call we received from an estate lawyer.
We all got together and went in to meet with the estate lawyer, who informed us that our father left us money as well as part ownership of his childhood home in the country. Later that night, I received a Facebook message from a young man claiming to be my father’s other child and only son. He said that my father and his mother had a relationship while my dad was married to my mom and that they had him 25 years ago. I shared the information with my sisters and then responded to the mystery man.
I wrote back and asked him if we could jump on a phone call, and we did. He told us he lived in our hometown and that word had gotten back to him that our dad had died. He wants to meet in person, and we are definitely going to meet with him.
Our mother came clean and admitted that she had known about Carl since before he was born but never wanted to acknowledge him. She informed us that Carl is telling the truth about being our brother and that we should embrace him as such.
My youngest sister is very money-conscious and asked the question that was on all of our minds. Does Carl deserve a portion of the money our dad left us and a quarter of ownership of the house? Both of my sisters think we don’t need to give him anything. However, I feel it’s only right because he’s our father’s child, just like we are. Yet, he was not written into the will.
How do I decide to split our dad’s inheritance with my long-lost brother?
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