My parents are not the most fiscally responsible people. It is mostly my dad who makes the bad choices, but my mom doesn't really do much to stand up to him about it. My mom comes from parents who made good financial choices and had substantial savings and investments. Both of her parents recently passed, and she stands to inherit quite a bit of money, at least for most people standards. Her parents were divorced, and her stepmom is still alive, so she will not be receiving anything yet from her dad. Both had asked me to hold her inheritance funds in trust to make sure that the money was spent wisely, and to make sure that my dad did not have access to it.

I said yes. That was so long ago, it was when I was in my 20s, and I had honestly forgotten that I had even said yes. My grandma passed a few years ago, but her will is being held up in probate before the money will be released to the trust. Her two sisters got their inheritance right away because their money is not held in trust.

Over the years, basically since my mom went to college, my grandmother has helped out my parents. From paying bills, buying school clothes for me and my siblings, etc, she's helped my parents a lot.

When my grandmother passed, she had been suffering from Alzheimer's for about two years, and one of my aunts "Emma," had recently retired, and instead of looking for secondary income, she took the time off to help care for my grandmother, and then she was the executor of her will when she passed.

My mom's other sister "Maggie," decided that she owed Emma $10,000 and paid her that amount and now they've both decided that since Emma paid Maggie that much, then my mom also owed Maggie that amount of money for having taking care of my grandmother, and then handling the will.

On top of that, they now have decided that she owes them each a third of everything that my grandmother ever gave her to help out with whatever my mom needed help with when she became an adult. They expect her to know how much my grandmother helped her out, and to pay her a third each. My mom has no idea how much her mom helped her out, she did not keep track, and so she has just decided that she should pay them each another $10,000.

I think my mom was banking on the fact that once she got her inheritance that I would just be able to pay it from the trust. The issue with that is twofold. My mom is living paycheck to paycheck currently... whatever her bad financial decisions are, or my dad's, they just don't have that kind of money. Right now, the trust is still being held up in probate court, and once it's released, it's released to me, not them. Even once it's released, my state has very specific laws as to how the money can be spent. I am worried about if I were to just give this money to my aunts, if I were to get audited that I could get fined or in trouble otherwise.

I can't just afford to walk into an attorney's office and pay them their consult fee for this, I just got a divorce myself and I am trying to start over. So the money isn't there just to hire an attorney to handle this for me.

I have always seen inheritance is something that you should feel lucky to get, and never EVER expect. But that is tempered with the fact that I grew up knowing from an early age, my parents are bad at handling money, and I had started taking care of myself at an early age as much as I could. And since I have turned 18 I have not received help from anybody. Though I'm sure my aunts now feel they're owed a third each of any birthday money I got from my grandma.

I just don't feel that anything that my mom got from my grandmother prior to my grandmother's death, is some thing that would be owed to them. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like that is just wrong of them to expect that. My grandmother gave her the money, regardless of the reason without any expectation of being reimbursed.

As much as my parents have been able to, they have helped out my siblings in ways that I have never needed help. And I would never expect my siblings to pay me a portion of the sum total of what my parents and help them out with.

Even if I could justify paying the money from my trust without worrying about having to be audited, I just don't feel that they are owed that. I have known people who have been executors and taking care of their parents, and not gotten a dime. I already know that when the time is near, but that's exactly what's going to happen to me, I will have to make sure my parents are taken care of. I will have to be the executor for their wills, for, however, little they have, and I don't expect a damn penny from either of my siblings.

So, am I the asshole for telling my mom that she shouldn't have to pay her sisters anything? They've treated her like shit their entire lives, if that matters at all.

My mom, however, does not like to stand up for herself, she has agreed to pay this money to them, a total of $30,000, and she thinks she can scrape at $500 a month extra. That's an extra five years, if my math is correct. My mom is almost 70, and has a very physical job, and I don't think she can do it, as she can barely walk.