This frustrated Army Veteran has turned to Reddit for advice after the won the lottery. He doesn’t need financial advice though, he needs family advice.
He Wanted a Better Life
The Original Poster (OP), aged 36, is the youngest of five children who grew up in poverty with a stay-at-home mom and a dad who earned insufficient income.
OP’s parents divorced, and his dad wasn’t actively involved in raising his children, leaving them with emotional and physical hardships.
OP’s oldest brother had anger issues, and his older sister (J) struggled with substance abuse and ended up being involuntarily committed for 72 hours. His other siblings have mundane jobs and still live in the impoverished town where they grew up.
To escape poverty, OP and J joined the military. After her service, J moved to a city near their hometown, and OP cut everyone else out of his life.
After completing his military service, OP used the GI Bill to pay for his college tuition and housing. His family disapproved of him receiving “free school” despite giving up four years of his life for active duty and suffering permanent physical damage.
During his college years, OP habitually bought a lottery ticket every month with his GI Bill funds and won a sum of money that enabled him to purchase a house!
He said he won the type of money that allowed him to buy a three-bedroom comfortable home in the country with his winnings, but afterward had nothing left over.
A Family from Hell
Years later, his younger sister he wasn’t close with visited him. During dinner, she asked about his mortgage, prompting his wife (E) to reveal that he had used his lottery winnings to purchase the house (she didn’t know he kept it a secret).
His sister, realizing he had won a six-figure sum of money, became livid, and after leaving for a hotel, she informed the rest of the family about his winnings.
OP’s family accused him of cutting them off to keep the money for himself. His phone, email, and E’s phone continued to ring for a week after that dinner as family members tried to get money from him, not realizing there was none left.
After a week, the situation escalated to the point where lawyers were involved. The family threatened to sue the man for damages and every possible grievance, both big and small.
They even included an estimated amount of gas money they had landed him since he was 16, taking into account inflation and current gas prices. The total amount they asked for was nearly equivalent to the price of buying another house in cash.
He lost $10K in lawyer fees and ended up having to sell his beautiful home to move somewhere his family couldn’t find him.
What would you do? Would you have left your house to avoid your family? Is the loss of your home worth peace?
The post Army Veteran Wins the Lottery, His Vengeful Family Threatened to Sue Him for More Than He Has first appeared on Wealthy Living
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Medvid.com. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit