My youngest uncle deceived the whole family to claim grandmother’s inheritance

My grandmother had a daughter, who is the eldest, and three sons. In the summer of 2023, she went for her annual health checkup and was diagnosed with lung cancer that had already spread to her bones.

This devastating news prompted my oldest uncle to call a family meeting to discuss her care. There, he asked my youngest uncle how much of my grandmother’s assets he was holding.

"The family needs to know," he said, "if there’s enough, we can use it for her treatment. If not, we’ll find another way together."

The youngest uncle said he had one of my grandmother’s houses under his name, along with nearly VND200 million (US$7,590) in cash and jewelry. Thus, everyone signed a written agreement stating that none of these assets could be kept for personal use and that everything would go toward my grandmother’s care.

Sadly, my grandmother passed away following months of treatment. What remained of her estate was VND100 million in cash and the house under my youngest uncle’s name, which had not yet been sold.

The youngest then told his siblings that his business was struggling and asked them to cover the funeral expenses first, as he did not have enough money.

"After selling the house, I will divide the inheritance equally among us siblings and also repay you for the funeral," he promised.

The oldest agreed without hesitation and even stood up to foot all the expenses, not wanting to burden his siblings.

"Right now, the most important thing is to give mom a proper farewell," he told them at the time.

The whole family agreed and documented this arrangement in both writing and a voice recording. The oldest later informed everyone that the event cost slightly over VND100 million.

When the youngest eventually sold the house for VND5.3 billion, he handed the oldest only VND50 million. He confessed that he had used the rest to pay off debts from his failing business and therefore could not split the inheritance as promised.

The other siblings reluctantly let him off the hook as he was still their blood brother. But they later learned the truth: there had been no debt at all. Their brother had been squandering grandmother’s money for years and had deliberately deceived them to seize the inheritance for himself.

At this point, my aunt and the other uncle want to take him to court to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. My oldest uncle, however, refused to join them, stating that he has given up his share of inheritance and the funeral expenses.

"Whether his debts were real or not, whether he stole from us or not, heaven and our ancestors will bear witness, and he will reap what he sowed," he told them.

"The money I spent for mom, I will consider it as planting good karma for my children and grandchildren. Please leave me out of this."

His stance is making me reconsider the matter. So I ask: Should my family sue and make my youngest uncle take responsibility for his actions? Or should we let it go as my third uncle suggested?