18 year old brother threatening to cause emotional stress and duress to parent

[jennyd21]

My 18 year old brother has gotten used to demanding my dad to pay for his lavish lifestyle. My dad has high blood pressure and diabetes, along with a very weak heart(one of his veins is clogged) the doctor has asked my dad to avoid any stress or situations where he might be stressed because he is at a high risk of a fatal heart attack. Every time my brother wants money from my dad(at least twice a week($300 to $400each time) and if my dad refuses and tells him to go to work he will harass him with phone call after phone call and text after text telling him he needs the money NOW! to the point my dad will run to western union and deposit money for him to avoid the stress. We(his other children) have asked my brother to try to work with us in keeping my dad stress free, we have gone as far as having my dad appoint me to handle all finances and he refuses to talk to me. My dad had bought a car that my brother was using(my dad paid for it, he was the registered owner, and paid for the insurance, he is the only and primary insured on the insurance) when my brother is in using the vehicle we have asked him to contact me in case of any accidents to file a claim..he also refused to do that. He has crashed the car once into a pole, the insurance fixed the car(he asked why it was not a total loss) the second claim came from a towing charge, and about a month ago he filed a claim stating a truck reamed into the vehicle. The insurance deemed it a total loss and made a payment to my dad since he is the primary and only insured and he is the registered title owner. My dad agreed to give my brother $3500 to help him purchase a new car. But now my brother is demanding $9,000. He is angry with me because I originally had asked him to sign a document of payment agreement that I was giving him the $3500 and that he will not be asking for compensation again for any vehicles and that he would not contact the insurance anymore for my dad's policies since he will now be responsible for his own. He did not want to sign the document so I told him I cannot complete the transaction unless he did. He just threatened to sue for $9,000 and told me that he would contact my employer to fire me(I work at the insurance office) if I didn't give him the money and without him signing the contract. He also said he would take my dad to court knowing he cannot handle the stress and that I will watch my "dear" dad die in court. He kept repeating to me that the lawsuit will stress my dad so much that he will not make it. I know he does not have a good case since everything is under my dads name, but the stress will be too much to bear for my dad that he will probably end up giving in to his demands. this has already happened before. when he was 17 and a half his mom asked my dad to buy him a car even though he had just had one and recked it. when my dad refused she filed a child support case which caused my dad alot of stress. She closed the case when my dad purchased this car and let his son use it. What Can I do to stop this cycle, my dad is getting weaker and weaker, more depressed each day and his blood pressure every day gets worse. If my dad gives in again, he will only keep doing this over and over again.

 

[irish223]

Unfortunately, your father is his own worst enemy. Too bad he hasn't learned to tell his son NO.

There really isn't much you can do unless you are appointed the legal guardian of your father or his finances.

However, if you can persuade him, your father can get rid of his current phone or block the son's number since it seems that's how they communicate.

The threats of a lawsuit are probably just that. Unless there's more to the story, I can't see any basis. If he actually files, have your dad hire an attorney to handle it, and to the avoid the stress.