Need advice before blowing up my family dynamics
Here is the situation… I was previously married… when I married my now ex husband 20 years ago.. my family “gifted” us 40 acres of land… with the caveat we had to pay the mortgage on the land. Otherwise it was out. And would be ours and out of the trust as soon as it was paid off…
Fast forward 15 years… my 12 year old catches my ex in an affair with his co worker. File for divorce. Have full custody of my child. And he abandoned us… including child support for the last 5 years. The property was still in the trust.. so he couldn’t touch that.
I continued to pay on that property… because my daughter and I still lived there until 3 years ago when it “mysteriously” burned down… mind you I was a terrible wife and dodnt pay attention to my ex husbands actions so I was not aware he canceled our homeowners policy. My mistake in trusting the man I committed my life to, without verifying. Lesson learned.
Fast forward to present… I have a wonderful job, supporting my child and me without the child support. Got myself to a position where I can re build on the property I have thought I “owned” for 20 years.. at least have still been paying on.
I start the process, and now I am being blocked from the family… because the 40 acres that was “gifted” to me… is attached to the 20 acres my grandmother owns..and is supposed to be “split” between the 3 cousins.
Grandmothers original 20 acres is paid off… my mother purchased the additional 40 acres using my grandmother’s place as collateral.
The cousins in question. Myself… my cousin B and which lives in a big city, and wants nothing to do with living off grid or in the country… and my other cousin we will call T… who lives off the system and expects everything to be handed to her.
I find myself at a point where I need to get an attorney. To at the very least hold my family accountable for the $ I put into the property… but also to separate myself from the trust.
I have moved on with a new life. A new soon to be spouse, which my family adores. He does not like “hand outs” and while we were planning on building and moving up to my investment… he did not like the fact that “we” would never fully control where we live. Which I was starting to understand.
I don’t think that my family was out to control me… I am starting to wonder… what are your opinions. Because I am getting an attorney… but I also don’t want create to much drama for my kid. Who will ultimately be the one who inherits this property in the long run.