My Dad only speaks with one of his 8 siblings because of a situation like this. During the 2008 recession my Dad loaned my grandfather over 75k to keep his business afloat with the promise that it would be repaid from the sale of my grandfather's house after his death. My dad would be entitled to his 1/9th share on top of a lump sum of 75k from the proceeds of the sale.

As smart as my grandfather was in a lot of ways, he was stupid in others. Instead of simply updating his will, he had a "family meeting" at Thanksgiving with my Dad and the 8 siblings letting them know the deal. All were in agreement.

3 years later my grandfather dies and lo and behold 7 out of the 8 siblings don't want to honor the agreement.

18 months prior to my grandfather passing my Dad had a bad car accident, got addicted to painkillers, and pretty much blew through all of his savings trying to score and then paying for his own rehab at one of the best facilities in the country. He was really down on his luck in terms of life and finances and his own family stabbed him in the back.

By my rough math in order to pay my dad back the 75k each of his siblings would have had to sacrifice about 7k from their share of the sale.

For more context my dad grew up in a true midwestern working class family. He was only one of 3 of his siblings to go to college and he put himself through school by getting a basketball scholarship. He went into sales and then management and made a really nice career for himself. Because he was the one sibling to "make it" he felt compelled to give back to his family. Gave out many family "loans" which were never repaid, Christmas presents for nieces and nephews, always picking up the tab. He once told me that in cash alone he probably gave over 120k out to his siblings when they "needed" it.

And it's not like my aunt and uncles were mean-spirited people before this at least from my perspective. They were family, I was close with all of my cousins, we hung out all the time, etc.

And then when he needs it the most they fucked him over 7k. Sorry for the rant but this whole topic gets me triggered because that would have been life altering money for my dad who currently has to live off disability.