My grandparents left me an inheritance of GHC 15m (£700,000) & my stepfather is pressuring me to give him the money

Recently, a girl used social media to ask for guidance on how to manage a £700,000 inheritance from her grandparents that included two properties: a two-bedroom vacation property in California and a four-bedroom house in Boston.

She revealed on Reddit that she is hesitant to give her stepfather a share of the inheritance despite his persistent pressure.

She wrote: “I (F) recently turned 18 and received a sizeable inheritance worth around 700k from my paternal grandparents, being their only living descendant. This includes a 4 bedroom home in Boston as well as a small 2 bedroom vacation house in California. Several years ago my mum (38F) married my stepdad (50M), who had four kids (17F, 14F, 10M) from his previous marriage, and they had an additional two children (7F, 5M) together. We also have my step-nephew (1M) living with us. My stepdad used to be a construction worker while my mum was a homeowner, and although they still worried about money, we lived in a decent house and had a regular, working class upbringing. That said, I didn’t get along well with my stepfamily. My stepdad hated the fact that I wasn’t related to him by blood, and he constantly ostracised me for being mixed race (I’m half Colombian from my dad’s side). I only got £2 allowance per week even though I had to pay for public transport, I had to share a room but he turned the sunroom into a bedroom specially for my younger sister, and he wouldn’t allow me to try out for a scholarship for a private school even though I could’ve easily passed because it would be ‘unfair’ to my siblings.

Around 2 years ago, my stepdad got arrested for something awful, and after all the financial problems that followed, including spending money on the new baby after he was born with birth defects (he’s fine now don’t worry), we ended up getting evicted. We had to move into a 2 bedroom council apartment, with me sharing the largest bedroom with the two eldest sisters and my nephew, my other siblings sharing the other bedroom, and my mum sleeping in the living room. My mum works two minimum wage jobs, and made me get a second job too even with my exams coming up, yet she’s fine with my stepsister staying home all day after dropping out of school. We can afford necessities like food and heating but we’ve had to cut back on basically everything else.

After I got my inheritance my mum begged me to use it to help out our family, and I refused. The thing is, my father and his parents were American, while the rest of my family are English and don’t even have passports, so it’s not like they can live in the property. I plan on using the money to pay for University and afterwards travel the world and experience new cultures. I’ve always loved animals and I want to follow my passions and open a cat cafe without having to worry about money. My family wants me to sell the property I inherited and buy a house in this country for them to live in as well as another second house for my sister and her son. I promised I’d help them buy groceries and rent a better apartment, but it shouldn’t be my responsibility to take care of them. It was my name in the will, not theirs. My stepsister is especially furious with me and says it’s unfair that I get a ‘fairytale’ ending even though her life was harder than mine. Everyone thinks I’m ‘wasting’ my money on my wants and ignoring their needs. “