I have 2 sisters and 1 brother, all older than me by at least 5 years. Our father passed away in December and left everything to the 4 of us. My brother, as executor, has been really great in taking care of everything and I did make him a quilt to thank him for all his work.
So... the money that was in the family trust was split 4 ways very equitably. My father kept record of every $20 that one of us borrowed so after the 4-way split everything anyone borrowed was taken out of their share and put back into the "pot". That pot was again split 4 ways. Basically back into the pot what would have been there to split.
One of my sisters had borrowed well over $40k, $32k of it to not lose her SECOND house to foreclosure (lost the first one) so she received less than the other 3. That was just part of my parents' estate and the rest will be settled soon, it was not an unsubstancial sum.
My brother just told me that this sister has asked for a $5k advance on the rest. Then about in the same breath he tells me that she has rented a house at the lake for a week because it's her b-day. This sister also bought a Mercedes after she received the money. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I still am. She has been out of work for years on disability, always struggling to make ends meet, always broke. I would have hoped that she would put this money away to help make her life a little easier for the long term but I see that is not to be.
It hurts me not only on the level that she is doing these distructive things to herself but blowing away what my parents worked all their lives for in just a few months.
I have spent very little of it, the biggest was for a new Viking sewing machine and I felt guilty about that even. Almost all of it went into investments, CDs, and high yield savings and the rest of it will too. My father always told me that he wanted it for us to have some security and that's just what I'll do with it. I don't expect that my sister will have anything left by the end of the year.