We Thought the Inheritance Was Settled—Until a Second Will Tore Our Family Apart

The second will turned everything upside down and caused a major rift in our family. My brothers and I haven’t spoken since.

I'm the second of three sons. My father passed away nearly three months ago at the age of 82. He had been seriously ill and bedridden for the last two years of his life, and it was a difficult time for all of us.

It all began during the family meeting held on the 49th day after his death—a traditional time for honoring the deceased. My older brother, Ethan—who had been living with our father during his final years—presented a will dated back to 2018. It clearly stated that the inheritance would be divided equally among the three of us: the family house in the city, a piece of land in the countryside, and some savings. My younger brother, Ryan, and I both nodded in agreement. Everything seemed settled.

But a week later, I received a call from a friend who works at a notary office. She said,
"Did you know your father, Mr. Lin, drafted a new will late last year? It clearly states that only your youngest brother Ryan will inherit the estate. You and your older brother Ethan are not included."

I felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over me.

I went to the office myself and asked to see the file. The new will had been signed in December—just three months before my father passed away. It included his signature, official stamps, and a medical evaluation certifying he was of sound mind at the time.

I immediately called Ethan and asked if he knew anything about this. He sounded shocked and insisted that our father had only written one will—the one from 2018—which had been in his possession ever since. Our father had told him not to reveal it until after his passing. While the 2018 will didn’t have a lawyer’s seal, it was signed by three neighbors as witnesses and written while our father was still mentally sound. Ethan argued that it should be valid for dividing the estate, especially since none of us had contested it.

Still, I urged him to come to the notary office to see the second will. Just like me, he was stunned when he saw it.

Our youngest brother Ryan is the son of our father’s second wife, making him our half-brother. The second will is set to be officially revealed on the 100th day after our father's death—just days from now—when the entire extended family will be present.

Ethan and I went to confront Ryan and asked if he knew about the second will. To our surprise, he admitted it immediately.
“Yes, I knew,” he said. “After Dad had the lawyer come over and draft the new will, he gave me a photocopy. I didn’t want to hide it from you, but Dad had his reasons, and it was his right to change his mind.”

Ethan and I were furious. On the day Ethan read the first will aloud, Ryan had sat there calmly and agreed with everything—as if nothing was going on. And now, knowing the second will was legally binding, he had that smug look on his face like he was watching us fall for a trick.

Of course, we couldn’t accept this. Ethan and I have decided to take the matter to court, arguing that Ryan may have influenced or manipulated our father into changing the will.

Since that day, the conflict in our family has been intense. Ethan and I are still pursuing the case, and neither of us has spoken to Ryan again. We never wanted a family torn apart over money, but we can’t accept how Ryan handled things.

Do we have any chance of winning this case in court?