The things some people think they can get away with because ‘they’re family’ can often be outrageous. For some, it’s not paying back borrowed money, and for others, like one unfortunate Texas man, it’s all his life’s belongings. As the story goes, the man claims he won $100K at a casino and decided to quit his job and travel the world. He left everything in the care of his brother and had all his belongings placed into storage, including cars, a boat, clothes, electronics, guns, and more.
However, when he returned from his travels, he was not expecting to discover it had all disappeared, or more precisely, his brother had sold everything. “All together, my stuff was worth at least 125k,” the man tells Reddit in his complaint post on r/legaladvice. Regarding the brother’s excuse: “he tells me had some trouble to with IRS and ‘had’ to sell my things to help pay what he owed or they were going to take his home which he inherited from our dad.” We could all probably agree that selling off your own family’s things without permission is such a scummy thing to do.
The Man Entrusted His “Coke-Selling” Brother to Keep His Things Safe
It goes without saying that the relationship between the brothers has been permanently damaged. “What should I do? I’m so angry, I don’t care if he has to go to prison,” the man exclaims. The top commenter of the post makes a good point, though. Even though he’s a victim of his brother’s betrayal and absolutely irresponsible spending, he needs to set his expectations accordingly, even if a lawyer gets involved. He “might not have any money or assets with which to pay you back,” as the Reddit user puts it.
Of course, many other commenters had questions; for example, how on earth did the brother sell major items, such as the cars or boat, if he wasn’t the legal owner? That’s when OP revealed one of his biggest mistakes on top of trusting his shifty brother: “I left everything with him, titles, high school diploma, everything.” He went on to explain that his brother used to sell drugs and has “lots of connections.” He also likely forged OP’s signature to make some of the deals. The more is revealed, the more Reddit users realize that this man dug his own grave by leaving his life’s belongings in his brother’s care.
Hopefully, this man’s tale will be a good lesson for anyone who is considering handling money or assets with family members. Unless you don’t mind risking relationships with loved ones, it’s probably not a good idea.
