Lost my father and my maternal grandmother while I was still in my teens. When in my twenties and having left home and working, lost a few work colleagues due to illness and accidents, both at work and elsewhere, including on the road .

He has been gone for 2 years now and was controlling. It is time to enjoy life and my friends.

Sorry to hear that GL55, marriage should be an equal partnership from my point of view. Back in the day my wife and I would sit down at least once a year and plan out our household budget for the coming year, which we then stuck to it. If something unexpected happened, then we would have another discussion to sort the situation out. Nothing was taken as being written in tablets of stone, we where both flexible enough to cope with changes of circumstances, whenever or however they occurred .

That would have been a fantastic way to handle things. Unfortunately, I had five sisters-in-law who had more say than the wife did, including getting him to co-sign loans behind my back. But God stepped in and the banker they went to saw that the sisters were a high risk to his credit so they refused for that reason only and sent a letter in the mail stating the fact.

I am in my late 70s and feel I have been cheated, first, my brother-in-law who was 1 year older than me, my wife's Brother who was 62 now a relative who was 44, not that I am too keen to go just yet.
Plus my sister who is 82 takes no tablets and walks her dog 2 to 3 times a day, drives her car, and does her gardening she is now painting her fence.

Had a Stepfather when I was in my teens, which was one of the reasons I left home as soon as I finished my education and Engineering apprenticeship, to get away from all the baggage that came with the step family. Had a few in-laws when I was married and that meant another load of baggage as well. Some of the baggage did relate to financial matters, It still make me boil today when I think about it .