My In-Laws Dumped a $1.82M Debt and a Sick Old Man on Me — But He Saw It Coming... — Transcript

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1. 0:00Is grandpa behaving himself? Oh, yes.
2. 0:03Well, he hurt his leg. Old people are
3. 0:05such a nuisance. I wish they'd think
4. 0:07about those of us who have to take care
5. 0:09of them.
6. 0:11That was my mother-in-law talking about
7. 0:13my husband's grandfather in his own
8. 0:14house while he lay in bed with a bad
9. 0:17leg. He heard every word and he didn't
10. 0:19say anything. He had a plan. Before I
11. 0:23tell you what he did, tell me in the
12. 0:25comments where you're watching from. I'm
13. 0:27Naomi, 30. I live with my husband
14. 0:30Daniel's family. Daniel was my boss in a
15. 0:32company his grandfather Walter founded.
16. 0:35Walter handed most of his duties to my
17. 0:37father-in-law Gregory, a weak man who
18. 0:39does whatever my mother-in-law Vivian
19. 0:41tells him. After that, everyone started
20. 0:44treating Walter carelessly. Only I
21. 0:45talked to him. When we walked in the
22. 0:47park, he said, "I was busy with work and
23. 0:50couldn't take care of Gregory and Daniel
24. 0:52much. Maybe that's why I couldn't raise
25. 0:54them properly." Then Vivian suggested
26. 0:57building a new house, barrier-free, with
27. 1:00Walter's room in the middle.
28. 1:02"If it's a house for all of us, I'll
29. 1:04pay." Walter said. They smiled and
30. 1:07flattered him.
31. 1:08Then a shock hit. Walter had co-signed a
32. 1:11friend's loan and the debt was now his,
33. 1:14$1,820,000.
34. 1:17"The house is in the president's name,
35. 1:20so it's safe." Vivian whispered,
36. 1:22relieved. Soon Walter began forgetting
37. 1:25names. "Who are you calling, Grandpa?"
38. 1:28he snapped at me. When I begged Gregory
39. 1:30to take him to a hospital, he said, "No
40. 1:33need to rush."
41. 1:34Vivian laughed. "Even if he was the
42. 1:36chairman, it's over for him. He'll start
43. 1:38wandering and drooling."
44. 1:41On moving day, I packed everyone's
45. 1:43belongings. When I went to call Walter,
46. 1:45Daniel said, "You and Grandpa can stay
47. 1:47here. We don't need extra baggage in the
48. 1:49new house and I'll give you Grandpa's
49. 1:51debt, too. At least you can be a
50. 1:53housekeeper."
51. 1:54They drove away cheerfully. I walked
52. 1:56back to the back room, stunned. Walter
53. 1:59looked at me with perfectly clear eyes.
54. 2:02Have they gone already?
55. 2:04Then his lawyer, Mr. Hale, arrived.
56. 2:06Chairman, have you finished getting rid
57. 2:08of the unnecessary staff?
58. 2:10Walter smiled. To deceive the enemy, you
59. 2:13must first deceive your allies.
60. 2:16He'd never had dementia. He'd pretended
61. 2:19to see how they'd react. A month later,
62. 2:21Daniel called. Grandpa sold his company
63. 2:24shares to the executive director. Dad
64. 2:26was dismissed as president.
65. 2:28Grandpa doesn't have dementia, I said.
66. 2:31And the house money was only promised if
67. 2:33everyone lived with him.
68. 2:35Did you read the documents?
69. 2:37They hadn't. They lost the house to the
70. 2:39mortgage and moved into a 50-year-old
71. 2:41apartment. The debt was a non-issue.
72. 2:44Walter had made a fortune on real
73. 2:46estate, and his friend's land had sold
74. 2:48to a resort developer. I divorced
75. 2:50Daniel. Mr. Hale excluded him and
76. 2:52Gregory from inheritance, and Walter
77. 2:55adopted me as his daughter. Now we live
78. 2:57in a countryside house, working in the
79. 2:59field together. Dad, look at this
80. 3:01radish, I tell him. Sometimes the people
81. 3:03who call you a nuisance are the ones you
82. 3:05should ask, who really keeps the lights
83. 3:07on. If you were left behind with a debt,
84. 3:10would you stay with him, too? Tell me in
85. 3:11the comments.