After My Father-In-Law’s Funeral, My Husband Inherited $600M And Kicked Me Out—But the Next Day, He Was In Panic Over His Mistake

After my father-in-law’s funeral, my husband inherited a massive $600 million fortune, but things took a sharp turn when he evicted me from our home. Confident he would enjoy a lavish life, he didn’t hesitate to get rid of me. However, the next day, he called me in a panic, realizing the $600 million was tied up as collateral and couldn’t be touched.

My name is Mary. I’m 45 years old, and I work in sales. My husband, John, is also 45 and used to work in sales but now stays at home.

This is my second marriage. My first husband died in a work accident 5 years ago, leaving me a widow. Between life insurance and severance pay, I received about $600,000. Since my first marriage happened later in my 30s, we didn’t have any children. I inherited the money along with my ex-in-laws, but they told me, “We’re almost 82 years old and don’t have much time left, so we don’t need it.”

I couldn’t accept that and decided to give the money to my ex-brother-in-law and his wife, who were living with my ex-in-laws. However, they also said, “We don’t need much since it was my brother’s money. You should use it.” So they only took a small portion of the money.

In the end, after paying a significant amount in inheritance taxes, most of the money ended up with me. Combined with our savings and the fact that I had a job, I became fairly well off by the age of 41.

But even with all that, sitting alone at home and looking at the numbers in my bank account, I felt empty. When I came home from work, no one was there, and no one ever would be. The bed beside me stayed perfectly made, just as it was before I went to sleep.

I really wanted to take some time off, but I had to keep working, so I went back to my job with this emptiness inside me, constantly feeling a sense of void. I desperately wanted someone—anyone—to listen to me, and that someone turned out to be my current husband, John.

My husband and I were business acquaintances before we got to know each other better. I knew he was a cheerful person, so when I visited his company, I ended up telling him everything. Normally, anyone would find such a dark and heavy story off-putting, but he listened quietly and then cheered me up with some light-hearted jokes. His words and smile seemed to fill a bit of the hole in my heart.

Just a month later, John gave me an even bigger concern and asked me to make an incredibly important decision. “Shouldn’t we get married? Given our age, it’s better to decide sooner rather than later.”

This time, I couldn’t hear my late husband’s voice guiding me. It felt like he was telling me to trust my own intuition and keep moving forward. So I decided to marry John.

“Okay, let’s get married,” I said, surprising even myself with how quickly I made that decision. It was likely John’s personality rubbing off on me. I started to think that a bit of carelessness wasn’t so bad if it made me more positive.

At the same time, I learned from John that too much carelessness could be problematic.
“Wait, live with your dad?” I asked.
“Yeah, just recently he got sick and needs help with daily living. He kept working past 73, thinking he was still…”

“Mention it? My mom’s not around. My parents divorced when I was young, and I haven’t seen her since.”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” I said.

“Sorry, don’t be mad. But it’s a heavy topic to bring up when we weren’t sure about getting married yet, right? I figured I’d tell you later.” He tried to calm me down.

“Even if you put off talking about living together, you could have told me about your parents. I would have known that living together might be an option.” I said.

“Well, let’s not sweat the small stuff. Just meet my dad and then decide if you’re okay with living together. And if I say I can’t live with him, we’ll figure it out then,” John said with a smile.

But I couldn’t smile back. “I’m not planning to say I don’t want to marry you just because I don’t want to live together. I just wish you had told me the important things earlier.” I thought being careless wasn’t so bad, but now I see it’s not a good thing after all.

In the end, I agreed to meet his father as John suggested. “Your house is pretty big,” I said.
“Just a bit. It’s just me and Dad, so we have some extra rooms. If you move in, you can use any of the spare rooms,” John replied.

I was about to meet his dad for the first time, so I was a little nervous. Ignoring my feelings, John opened the gate and walked towards the front door.

His house was three stories high, slightly bigger than the neighboring houses. Living there with just the two of them seemed quite luxurious. That’s what I thought, but John seemed dissatisfied.

“Dad’s so stingy. He should have built a bigger house,” he muttered to himself.
But I was too nervous about meeting his dad to confirm what he said.

“Dad, I brought her,” John called out. “This is Mary.”
“Been hard to move lately,” his dad replied.
“Please don’t strain yourself,” I said.

John’s father propped himself up with John’s help. He wasn’t bedridden, and it seemed he could get up and walk slowly with a bit of help. So he could manage with some assistance. Despite his physical issues, his father seemed sharper than I expected.

“So, Mary, you’re in sales for office equipment. With the move to paperless offices, selling the hardware must be getting tougher, right?” his dad asked.

“Yes, industry-wide, equipment sales have been declining for about 11 years. So everyone is focusing on new services or business expansion,” I replied.

“Considering that the domestic market for the equipment is almost saturated, you need to look at countries where there’s still demand for new services. IT integration might be the way to go. I think there’s something called MPS, right?” he said.

I completely forgot I was talking to my future father-in-law. The conversation flowed so naturally into work talk, being considerate of my feelings.

After just a few minutes of talking, I found myself respecting him. I started to understand why John called living together “small stuff.” He probably knew I wouldn’t oppose living with his dad.

About 30 minutes into our conversation, his father said, “My back’s starting to hurt. Sorry to cut this short, Mary, but I need to rest. Please take care of John. He’s quite a chatterbox.”

“Sure, I will,” I replied.
On the way back, John told me more about his dad.
“Dad’s a serial entrepreneur,” John said.
“A serial… what?” I asked.

“A serial entrepreneur. He starts companies, grows them, then sells them. He’s done it multiple times,” John explained.
“You can just buy and sell companies like that?” I was surprised.

“Well, yeah. Selling one company involves millions of dollars. Starting and growing a company also needs a lot of money, so the sale isn’t…”
“Dad doesn’t like to spend. He could build a mansion that would make jaws drop, but he doesn’t,” John said.
“Don’t you know much about his work?” I asked.

“He doesn’t talk much about work or money. He never hired me for his companies or taught me how to make money. Living at home is the only way he spoils me. If he’s got so much money, he could spoil me a little more, don’t you think?” John replied.

“Your dad probably has his reasons,” I said.

It seemed his father was quite an impressive person. It made sense that John might feel overshadowed by him, given how incredible his father is. John probably got compared to him a lot.

Later, I talked with John about living with his father. His father currently relies on John for help and also gets assistance from a home helper when John is at work. I thought my husband and I would continue working while getting help from a home assistant to take care of my father-in-law.

However, John surprised me with a different idea. “I want to quit my job and take care of Dad,” John said.

“What? Quit your job?” I was shocked.

“Dad’s such an incredible person, right? I feel like I haven’t done anything for him all this time, so from now on, I want to support him without relying on a caregiver. I’ll be like a homemaker,” John explained. “I’ll take care of the house too.”

“Are you sure you won’t regret quitting your job?” I asked.

“I’d regret not doing anything for Dad more. I can go back to work after he’s gone,” he replied with a determined look.

Feeling worried, I thought he might resent his father, but it turned out that wasn’t the case. Despite everything, he really cared for his dad.

“If you’re going to be a homemaker, you better handle the housework properly,” I warned.

“Leave it to me,” John said, puffing out his chest confidently.

Since my father-in-law would cover his own expenses and my income would be enough for the two of us, I decided to leave the housework to my husband. When we got married and started living together, everything went as planned.

I worked, and John took care of the house. He managed the chores, handled the finances, and supported his dad. When I tried to help, he would say, “You’re tired from work. I’ll handle the house stuff, you rest.”

My father-in-law remained kind and shared many valuable stories with me. Our second marriage was going well. However, a month after we started living together, John began slacking off with the house chores.

“You’re sleeping on the couch again! You’ve been there all day, haven’t you?” I asked.
“No way. I went to the fridge when I was thirsty and to the bathroom too,” John said, trying to defend himself.

“That’s not what I mean. What…?” I wanted to ask but he didn’t let me finish my question.
“Dinner’s ready,” he replied.

I glanced at the kitchen, but there was no sign of any cooking. All I saw was an empty container on the dining table. It was clear he had been lazy all day.

Perfect timing. The intercom rang, and John grabbed his wallet and headed to the door. From this, I realized what John meant by “dinner’s ready.”

I was too stunned to say anything. John had only handled the housework diligently for the first 3 weeks. After that, he gradually stopped doing anything, and I ended up cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry.

It’s typical for someone with a careless personality to start strong and then quickly slack off. Caught up in the excitement of getting married, I hadn’t foreseen this. My father-in-law, on the other hand, must have predicted it early on, which is why he frowned when he saw John doing housework.

As my husband began to shirk his duties, my father-in-law started apologizing to me, saying that, “I’m really sorry. He’s not being responsible after getting married, but it seems he’s just causing you trouble. If he becomes a burden, feel free to kick him out.”

“I wouldn’t do that, really. It’s okay,” I replied. “I’ve tried to correct him, but he’s just… well, you know.”
“It’s okay, but he isn’t neglecting to help you, right?” I asked.

“No, he does help me. At least a little,” he replied. I noticed a slight change in my father-in-law’s expression. It was clear that John wasn’t completely ignoring his father, but he also wasn’t doing a third of the work. Still, my father-in-law was probably downplaying the situation to avoid any conflicts between us.

To break the tension, my father-in-law quickly changed the topic. “I’m doing some end-of-life planning,” he said. “Can you help me? I’m not confident in John handling it.”

“End-of-life planning?” I curiously asked.
“It’s not as negative as it sounds. I just want to avoid any trouble later,” he answered.
“Got it. If there’s anything I can do, I’d be happy to help,” I replied.

In the days after, my husband stopped doing housework and started buying whatever he wanted. I wouldn’t complain if he was spending his own money, but he was using my bank account without permission.

“Let me have a bit of luxury too,” he said, trying to justify his actions.
I took back my bankbook so he couldn’t use the money without my permission. When I checked it, I saw he had spent around $50,000 in just 3 weeks.

It was an expensive lesson that I couldn’t trust him. Naturally, I thought about divorcing him, but I didn’t want to leave my father-in-law in his care, so I erased divorce from my list of options.

My father-in-law passed away just before turning 81. The time I spent with him was short but incredibly meaningful to me. It felt like we had spent 11 years together. Even after the funeral, I couldn’t pull myself together and felt a deep void in my heart.

As I sat in the living room, lost in emptiness, my husband walked in with a cheerful expression. “Hey, let’s get divorced.”
“What?” That single word snapped me out of my daze.

He was waving the divorce papers in my face. It wasn’t a misunderstanding or a joke. “I found Dad’s bank account. Guess how much is in it? Nearly $600 million. So this money is all mine. You’re no longer needed. ATM.”

“When Dad collapsed a year ago, I didn’t want to deal with taking care of him, so I looked for a wife. I figured you’d be an easy catch since you were grieving the loss of your previous husband.”
“I see, so that’s why you were in such a hurry to get married.” I said.

“That’s part of it, but then I changed my strategy. You inherited money from your late husband, right? You never talked about it, but I figured his retirement and insurance would be substantial. I took care of Dad while you acted as the ATM until he passed away. It was easier than working. Now that Dad’s gone, I’m set for a lavish life with his inheritance.”

“Do you think you can get away with this?” I asked, feeling the anger rising.
“Of course! I’m his son, so it’s only natural I inherit his wealth. He worked until he collapsed, and I thought he’d live until 87. But he died sooner than expected. So I’m lucky,” he replied smugly.

I realized I was clenching my fists. It was my fault for being tricked into marrying him, and I could accept that, but I couldn’t forgive him for speaking so badly about my kind father-in-law.

I was ready to punch him, not caring about the trouble it might cause later. But then I felt like I heard my father-in-law’s voice saying, stay calm. Right. There was no need to do anything rash.

“All right. Give me the divorce papers,” I said. I snatched the papers from my husband, signed them on the spot, and handed them back.
“Thanks for making this easy. I’ll file these tomorrow. You can take all our savings. I’ve got $600 million, so take as much of that petty cash as you want,” he said, clearly gloating.

“Okay then, yeah, leave it to me. I’ll file the papers and send you your stuff if you want,” I replied, walking past him and out of the house.
As I left, my anger started to fade, and I felt a wave of laughter rising. My husband would soon regret divorcing me. That $600 million was just a pipe dream.

A few days later, while staying at a hotel and looking for a new place to live, my ex-husband called. “Hey, what the hell did you do?” he yelled.

I instinctively pulled the phone away from my ear as he started shouting. He seemed confused, so I needed to explain what was happening.
“I can guess what happened, but why don’t you tell me?” I asked calmly.

“When I tried to withdraw money from Dad’s account, they said this money can’t be withdrawn. What’s going on? There should be $600 million in there,” he said, his voice full of frustration.

“Looks like you didn’t know. Since your dad didn’t spoil you, you never took an interest in his affairs, right? And he never discussed his work with you,” I explained.

“Stop with the riddles. There’s money, right?” he demanded.
“Yes, there’s $600 million, but it’s collateral, so you can’t touch it,” I replied.
“Collateral?” he asked, his voice shaking.

“That’s right. The money is in the account, but it’s untouchable, like a pie in the sky. Also, that money is about to be used to pay off debts, so it’ll be gone soon,” I explained.
“You’re kidding. There’s $600 million, and I can’t use any of it?” His voice grew quieter as he started to panic.

I knew about the $600 million being collateral because I helped with my father-in-law’s end-of-life planning. He had asked me to handle things if anything happened to him. Since he passed away, I was going to use the $600 million to settle his debts, but since my ex suddenly demanded a divorce, I left the paperwork to him, telling him to take care of the rest.

“What did Dad do with the $600 million?” my ex asked.
“He used it for something he loved,” I replied.
“What does that mean?” he asked, confused.

“At over 72, Dad decided his next job would be his last and used his savings for something he enjoyed— that seafood processing and distribution company in Germany he always talked about. He trusted the management to locals and planned to enjoy his retirement here. But it was a huge failure, and he lost almost everything,” I explained.

“When he told me about it, he laughed, saying it was only natural since he did it without any real knowledge. He had no regrets about where he spent his money to start that company. He borrowed $600 million, using his savings as collateral, but it turned into debt. So he planned to repay it with another job. It seemed impossible, but he didn’t think so. Even with the debt, he kept enough money for his retirement. In today’s world, where many struggle in retirement, that’s impressive.”

However, while sorting out the German company, his health declined. When that happened, he renegotiated his repayment plan with the bank. Given his long history of high-value transactions, they trusted him.

He told them, “If I can’t work anymore, take the collateral.”
They agreed to a 2-year grace period, after which the debt would be paid off with the collateral if he couldn’t work. That year is up, and it’s time to settle the debt. So this $600 million is debt repayment money and will soon be zero.”

My ex asked, his voice filled with shock, “Exactly. Didn’t you find another bank account? There should be one for living expenses.”
“Yeah, I found one with $80,000 in it. That’s money you can use freely. It’s your inheritance.”
“$600 million turned into $80,000? Why didn’t he prepare more for his retirement?” my ex wondered, clearly surprised.

“I was surprised by the $80,000 too, but knowing him, he probably planned to add more if needed. He seemed capable of anything. And it looks like you haven’t checked the will yet.” I said.
“Well, Dad told me he’d leave me about 20%,” my ex said.

“We’re divorcing, so you could contest it as infringing on your rightful inheritance. But I’d like to honor his wishes. I hope you’ll agree to the 20%.” I said, noticing he was breathing heavily.

He thought he’d get $600 million, but the amount kept shrinking, and now he was panicking. “Why did he waste so much money? He could have bought anything with $600 million!” my ex yelled, frustrated.

“Yelling at me won’t change anything. He was happiest when he talked about that time, so he had no regrets. It was his money, and he used it. He planned to repay the debt himself so no one can complain. Why are you so panicked?” I asked.

“The truth is, I thought I’d get $600 million, so I spent all my own money. My account is empty,” he admitted.
“What? Seriously?” I was shocked.

My ex-husband had been spending money he didn’t even have yet. Now that we were divorced, he couldn’t rely on my savings anymore, and he was currently unemployed. I finally understood why he was so panicked.

“Still, you have a roof over your head and a house, so you can rebuild your life, right?” I suggested.
“I’m almost 54, unemployed, and have only a little savings. What’s going to happen to me? Please help me,” he pleaded.

“You have savings and a job, don’t you? Why should I help an ex-husband? You’re suffering the consequences of your own actions,” I said firmly.
“Please, let’s pretend the divorce never happened,” he begged.

But I ignored his pleas and hung up the phone. Having a careless personality is definitely not a good thing. With that thought, I went back to looking at property listings.

Surprisingly, my ex-husband did follow through with the will and gave me $40,000 from my father-in-law’s inheritance. That made up for the money he had taken from me.

He probably thought it was too much trouble to fuss over $40,000 after dealing with the $600 million situation. He also apparently started working in sales again, but he didn’t seem to be taking it seriously.

The shock of not getting the $600 million affected his motivation, leading to frequent mistakes. After a month of struggling under the scolding of younger supervisors, he saw his paycheck and lost motivation. Comparing it to the $600 million he missed out on, he quit after just a month.

Now, he’s a part-time worker, barely making enough to get by. But with that, his savings of $600,000 won’t increase; in fact, it’ll probably decrease. I wonder if he’s thinking about his retirement. Well, whatever trouble he gets into now is not my concern. There’s no ATM for him anymore. He’ll have to work hard.

I rented a small condo and started living on my own. I put the $40,000 from my father-in-law into my bank account. I consider it a kind of talisman, so I don’t plan on spending it. Seeing it in the account feels like I’m carrying a bit of my father-in-law’s work spirit with me, which motivates me. Today, I’ll draw strength from him and do my best at work.

This story draws inspiration from real-life events and individuals, but it has been adapted and fictionalized for creative expression. Names, characters, and specific details have been altered to protect individuals’ privacy and to enhance the storyline. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, or actual events is coincidental and unintentional.