Family disagreements over the belongings of a deceased loved one are all too common. When emotions are high, even the closest of kin can fall into dispute over what was left behind.

A woman recently shared a poignant tale about her late mother and the aftermath of her passing. She began by highlighting how she was her mother’s primary caregiver during her illness. “Mom was my best friend,” she revealed, “so it was only natural for me to be by her side throughout it all.” Her brother and aunts, on the other hand, were less present. They only seemed to appear when financial assistance was needed.

“While my mom’s condition was deteriorating, one aunt actually had the audacity to ask mom’s business connections to help her find a new place to live,” she recounted. Her mother, who had once run a successful real estate business, was too ill to manage such requests.

After her mother’s passing, the day of the will reading arrived, a scenario that could have been pulled straight from a Hallmark movie. In the room sat her brother, aunts, and her mother’s lawyer. She sat there, sipping the weakest tea from one of her mother’s cherished, albeit cracked, teacups.

The lawyer announced that her mother had saved up a significant nest egg of about $5 million. To her shock, it was revealed that this fortune was to be divided among her brother and the aunts. She received nothing. Not a penny. She was in utter disbelief as her tea turned bitter on her tongue.

Emotionally overwhelmed, tears began to flow down her cheeks, streaking her mascara. Her brother and aunts, meanwhile, couldn’t help but smile, perhaps satisfied with the unexpected windfall.