A Life Flipped Upside Down
Life, although full of love and wonder, can be an unpredictable and unforgiving beast at times. That was the case of this Reddit user who unfortunately lost both of her parents in a hit and run car accident when she was just 10 years old. Now, this little girl (let’s call her Lucy) had no direct family to go live with so it seemed her only option was to go to an orphanage, or so she thought. However, Lucy’s father was also the recipient of a very large inheritance which was now in Lucy’s name, and since she was a minor, the trust would give sizable monthly stipends to the people who were taking care of Lucy for living costs. An older couple from Lucy’s church heard about her monthly stipends and hastily decided to take Lucy in an “act of kindness”, though, as it turns out, “kindness” wasn’t really the inspiration behind their “generous” gesture…
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Living With The Banks
The couple from the church, let’s call them Mr. and Mrs. Banks, made a big deal in front of the church community about how “a little girl needs a loving home, and God has given us this joyous task of bringing her up in our home and hearts.” Super cheesy, but the congregation somehow bought the charade. Mr. and Mrs. Banks also had a daughter of their own, named “Kitty,” who was just a year older than Lucy. Lucy tried to make friends with her but was unfortunately ignored by Kitty, which ended up being a constant normality with the entire Banks Family. The family was never abusive, but there was an oddity to how they treated her out in public.
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“Our Little Gift!”
When in front of other people, Mr. and Mrs. Banks would gawk over Lucy and make sure other people noticed how great they were for taking care of her. It made Lucy incredibly uncomfortable as it was grossly over-dramatic and obviously staged, but it seemed as if she was the only one who noticed – or even cared. They would even make Kitty play nice with Lucy in public to really seal the deal. However, when they got back home, the entirety of the Banks family would pay very little attention to Lucy, think Harry Potter with the Dursley’s. It was becoming pretty evident to her why the Banks family decided to take her in.
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The Best Parents Ever?
Mr. and Mrs. Banks would also have Lucy put on a big show when social workers came by the house to make sure everything was a-ok, and went as far as to coach Lucy through her interactions with child services about how much the Banks were a “godsend” even though the cared very little about anyone but themselves. Lucy knew that once the social workers left, the Banks would just go back to ignoring her. It became incredibly clear to Lucy that the Banks were just using her for her money and did not care about her well-being or if she was having a nice childhood despite losing her family. Then in what seemed to be an instant, Lucy discovered what her trust money was really being spent on.
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Wait, Where’s The Money Going?
Lucy started following the purchases Mr. and Mrs. Banks were making with a closer eye and realized they were spending the majority of her estate stipends on personal trips, new cars, and a plethora of items online. They even started using the money to save up for Kitty’s college tuition costs. Essentially Lucy was supporting the entire family while feeling more alone than ever. You think the family would have some reservations about exploiting the funds of an orphaned teenager, but the most surprising thing was how the family felt about taking Lucy’s inheritance money.
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Enough is Enough
The Banks’ were more than comfortable with taking Lucy’s money and in fact told her that she “owed them” for how well she was being taken care of. They also tried to tell Lucy that not only did she owe them money now, but they also expected her to give them money after she turns 18 and is given complete control over her inheritance. This was the straw that broke the camels back. With fresh fuel igniting the flame of revenge, Lucy started to plan how she was going to take the Banks family down.
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Antique Heaven
One of the main complaints the Mr. and Mrs. Banks (especially Mrs. Banks) was how they deserved material compensation for “taking care” of Lucy all these years. To cover this desire for “material compensation,” Mrs. Banks would take pieces from Lucy’s mother’s antique collection which came from both Lucy’s family’s antique shop as well as their personal collection. Mrs. Banks would take these antiques and decorate their house, sell them to collectors, or donate them to make the family look more generous and “holy” in the eyes of the community. She also thought that Lucy had no idea she had full ownership of the antiques and could stop her at any time, but Lucy was taught by her mother at a young age that material possessions hold little value in the long-term, and therefore had no real connection to the antiques. Completely true, except for one set of antique-wear.
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Fine China
Lucy held a connection to this baroque-era fine china set. It was her mother’s prized possession and was by far the most expensive set of items in her collection. She knew that her mother wanted her to have it, and because of that Lucy this set was one of the only ways she could still feel connected to her biological parents. Mrs. Banks, aware of the circumstances, ignored this and would continually bring up how she wanted the set to “go to Kitty on her wedding day.” Lucy could have let this defeat her, but instead Lucy saw her opportunity to destroy the Banks’ reputation.
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The Plan Comes Together
Some time passed and Kitty went off to college with the money saved from Lucy’s inheritance. Lucy herself had done well to get herself a scholarship to an out of state school and planned to use her estate trust (which she would soon fully control) to pay off the remaining balance of her tuition (believe or not, the Banks refused to help her in any way to prep/pay for college!). With her initial future plans laid out, Lucy began to build up her case against Mr. and Mrs. Banks and expose them to the community. Lucy started to keep a log of what the Banks’ were purchasing month to month from the past-nearly decade they had fostered her, which astonishingly allotted close to two hundred thousand dollars. For them to think they would get even more money back from Lucy was absolutely laughable. Lucy initially asked Mr. and Mrs. Banks if she could see their bank statements because she was curious about her monthly stipend, but they adamantly refused. Because of this, Lucy went behind their backs (no remorse, either!) and receive bank statements every month so she could keep an eye on how much of HER money was actually being spent. On top of this, Lucy would also keep a running list of big-ticket purchases that the family had made, including two cars purchased in cash, trips to destinations like Hawaii and New York, as well as cash gifts and donations to the church. All of these would become larger pieces in Lucy’s grand plan.
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Ready To Roll
As more time passed, Lucy continued to record her foster families spending history and put all her findings into a large, and completely filled, three ring binder. She was just a few days away from leaving for college and having the inheritance fully in her name, and had booked her travel to school. With no intention of EVER going back to the Banks’ house, Lucy packed up the little amount of belongings she owned and prepared her “parting gift.” Lucy knew the church’s yearly antique sale was coming up in just a few days, and Mr. and Mrs. Banks had already began to sift through Lucy’s mother’s antiques to see what they would donate this year. However, when they went out for an evening shopping spree, Lucy saw her opening.
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An Honorable Donation
Lucy quickly packaged up her mother’s priceless china set, and set out for the antique sale. Once there she told the event committee that Mrs. Banks would like to donate the set in her family’s name, and also let the committee know that if they needed proof of ownership and right to sell, they could contact Lucy’s family lawyer for more information. It was very tough for her to part with the china, but she knew her parents would have wanted her to do so if it would help her on her road to happiness.
No one was able to buy the set outright (it was worth more than $10,000 total, making it the most expensive donation in the event’s history) but people were still able to purchase small portions of the set. You would think Mrs. Banks would be happy that such a nice donation was made in her name, however Lucy knew what a phony she was and patiently awaited the fallout.
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True Colors
The Banks were scheduled to work on the second day of the antique sale, and it was then Lucy made her final departure from the town. She was disappointed that she couldn’t see the meltdown with her very eyes, but from what she was initially told, Mrs. Banks threw an absolute tantrum after realizing that the china set was being sold and that some of the parts were already gone. The committee had explained to her that the donation was made in Mrs. Banks’ name, which made her go even more ballistic. She began to track down people who had bought parts of the set to try and convince them to give the pieces back, but to no avail. She did, however, succeed in making her and her husband look like absolute fools in front of the entire church community, and their facade began to crumble. The entirety church was befuddled at how both Mr. and Mrs. Banks were behaving and at “the way they continually cursed their foster daughter.” With phase one of Lucy’s plan finished, the second and final phase was put into action.
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Lessons Learned
Just about a week after the antique sale fiasco, Mr. and Mrs. Banks received a package from Lucy and her attorney containing the full list of statements from throughout the years, including Lucy’s three-ring binder of evidence. The package also included a letter from Lucy’s attorney stating that if the Banks ever reached out for money or for any other reason concerning payment, they would be given a bill for their purchases over the years along with a court date. Mr. and Mrs. Banks obeyed and never contacted Lucy again. It seemed like the nightmare was finally over, and for the most part it was, but it wasn’t the last time she interacted with a member of the Banks family.
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Ten Years Later
A decade had passed and Lucy was now working as an elementary school teacher and was happily married with two children of her own. Kitty and Lucy had reconnected after all the information went public. Kitty had decided to reject the money and work her way through college. She also apologized for how she treated Lucy when they were children, and started going to therapy as well due to traumas she encountered during her childhood. Kitty also got married and both her and Lucy had their own wedding china now.
As for the Banks themselves, Kitty no longer speaks with them, and they had no choice but to remain in their small town as they could not afford to move anywhere else, still living among a community of people who know they stole inheritance money from a child to get ahead. Justice served.
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Did They Deserve It?
Was Lucy right in getting revenge against her foster parents, should she have handled it differently? Let us know in the comments below!
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