My dad was murdered when I was 15 F in 2023 (now 18 F). He was my only guardian after he divorced my mom who took my sister. My relatives set up a fundraiser page soon after, explicitly stating that the funds would support me and my brothers both (16 M).
My family decided to settle the money in court and divide it amongst the 4 of us that same year (me, my twin brothers, and my sister). My abusive mom and family went to court without me and somehow the court decided the money should be split by age i.e. the oldest (me) got the least amount and the youngest (my sister) got more than half of the money despite still having two guardians (my mom and her step-dad).
(My mom essentially went to court and fought for the most of the money from my dads death to go to her and her daughter)
The fundraiser money was meant to support me and my twin brothers who lost our only guardian and yet my sister ended up receiving the majority. Fucked up right? At this time I was still a minor so there wasn’t much I could do.
The court also determined that the only eligible person who could be my new guardian was my grand-aunt (she was old and sickly).
My aunt (dad’s sister) was not eligible because she was Canadian. Yet despite this, she decided to act as my guardian but she was not my guardian by law. She uses me and my brothers’ share of the fundraiser money to pay our expenses while also living off of it herself.
She’s emotionally manipulative, coercive and doesn’t do anything around the house, leaving all the housework to me and my brothers. I tried to put up with it but she also steals my property (my devices) and threatens to discard them. She has also set up cameras around the house to monitor me and my brothers when she’s away on vacation.
Whenever I step out of line, she threatens to make me pay for the rent and the bills even though she controls the purse strings of my fundraiser money and lives off of it. Not to mention guilt tripping when she said “I came all the way from Canada to help you fight the court for your money when I still have my own family to take care of.”
I think she had good intentions initially but now she’s gone ballistic, thinking that she’s my savior when in reality she hasn’t done anything court related in two years and lives off of the little money I did get from the court.
Never once did she spend a dime of her own money on us and frequently vacation to Disney, Canada, and the Caribbean, leaving us (minors) alone back in the states. She claims that she is using “her husband’s money” to go on vacation.
She also brought her kids from Canada. All three of them vacation, come back, treat me like shit and go on vacation again, repeating the cycle as if the apartment me and my twin brothers live in is her vacation home. (She is still neither a citizen nor my legal guardian).
I’ve put up with her and her kids for nearly 3 years. Now that I’m 18, I want to take action against my aunt and possibly my mom simultaneously, getting the money that rightfully belongs to me and my brothers but I don’t know where to start. I’ve suffered emotionally and physically because of these two women. First my mom, and now my aunt. All I want is independence and financial freedom. I’m enrolled in college and if I can get my fundraiser money, I know I’ll be able to support myself.
Any advice is appreciated.
Location: NYC