In times of duress and difficulty, we often think to turn to our family first to seek for help and support to get us through. After all as the old Disney quote from Lilo and Stich would go, ‘Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind”. Tragically, one woman’s extended family would leave her out of pocket in the more dire of circumstances after they pilfered from the windfall inheritance that her parents left for her upon their unexpected passing.
Woman shares how she was orphaned at just 11
In an anonymous post that was shared to the International Islamic University of Malaysia’s confession page, a woman went on to share how her extended family preyed on her after she tragically lost both of her parents to a work-related accident at just 11-years-old.
At the time, both were employed by the same company and having no other children, left the young girl with no choice but to fend for herself as an orphan. At the behest of her aunt and uncle, she was sent back to live in Kelantan with her grandmother and another aunt a day after her parent’s burial. This was in spite of her insisting to stay at her own family home.
Neither her aunt nor uncle relented in their decision, and the woman was left to live in Kelantan.
“In my first year there, neither my aunt nor uncle visited me once. The only pocket money I received was from my grandmother and other aunt, both who had to work hard selling food from their house.” she said.
Relatives started living a life of luxury at her late-parents’ expense
To her shock and horror, her aunt and uncle would wind up visiting her in the following year by driving cars belonging to her late parents; a Proton Perdana and a Toyota Vios. She pointed that out to them, accusing them of using her parents’ cars, but was rebuked and told that the cars now belonged to her aunt and uncle as they helped pay off their installments to avoid repossession from the bank.
This surprised her as her parents had once told her that the hire-purchase loans have already been paid off in full by her parents, but her aunt and uncle said they had lied to her.
Her disliking of her aunt and uncle only festered when she observed how they began to live more lavishly, while she had to depend on donations to get by. In fact, she recalls that her relatives only gave her RM100 every Raya, and RM200 and RM300 per month to her grandmother and aunt who took care of her.
Upon completing her SPM, her relatives advised her to enroll in a university in Kelantan. She pretended to do so and lied that she had sent out applications for universities in Kelantan and Terengganu, when in reality she had applied for a university in Johor so that she could check up on the house her family used to stay in.
Sneaking out of her grandmother’s home, she travelled with what money she had managed to save and returned to her family home, only to discover another family living in it.
Sought out legal help to reacquire possessions belonging to her parents
As she pursued her studies, she deliberated on what she should do before deciding to reach out to a lawyer for help. Upon explaining her circumstances and that she lacked the funds to pay him for his services, the lawyer offered to help pursue her case and told her that they could worry about payment later on.
Investigations conducted into her parents’ assets carried out over a span of two years revealed that her family home in Johor was built on privately-owned land, and that the property was sold seven years ago for a sum of RM820,000 by her aunt and uncle.
What’s more, she also came to learn that her mother had been renting out two homes for RM400 each initially. However, the amount was later raised to RM650 a month, and her relatives have been pocketing the amount instead of disbursing it to her.
As for the cars that her parents owned, the lawyer confirmed that their hire-purchase loans had indeed been paid off in full. She was also informed that due to how her parents passed in a work-related accident, she should have been awarded compensation of RM720,000 that was to be paid out when she became of age.
After six months, she took the matter to court and left her aunt and uncle in a state of panic. They begged her not to file a lawsuit to no avail.
Court ruled in her favour, and relatives ordered to return her parents assets back
Close to four or five years in, the court eventually ruled in her favour and her aunt and uncle were instructed to returned what was owed to their niece in full.
“Imagine from 11-years-old till I turned 23, the amount I received from the sale of my family home, the car, rental, all of which totaled close to RM2 million, was only RM1,000.”
Eventually, her aunt and uncle had to sell off everything to their name in order to pay off what was due to her, which only came up to about 80% of the actual amount. Inevitably, they declared bankruptcy and was later sent to jail, though the reason for their incarceration was not specified.
Now 28-years-old, the woman said she used 10% of what she had managed to reacquire from her relatives to pay off her lawyer, whom she credits for helping her reacquire her family’s possessions.
Owing to her decision to pursue a legal case against them, her aunt and uncle’s children accused her of being ungrateful.
“They said that if it wasn’t for them, I would have been left on the streets.”
“I told them that if it wasn’t for my family’s money, they would still be living in a single-storey squatter home. But after claiming my parents’ money, they lived a life of opulence and bought a two-storey home.” she said.
She adds that she has since gotten married and has moved to Selangor with her aunt and grandmother.
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