Family demands sibling sign over their half of a shared property, sibling agrees only if parents give them their house in return, parents refuse: 'They say I should just trust their word'

We hope that by now you all know never to trust someone's word, even if they are your family or closest friends. Words can be great; they are comforting, complementing, and affirming, but they are just words. If you want something to be done, if you want an agreement to be binding, you can't just take someone's word for it; there has to be more than that.

A written contract exists for a reason. It is permanent, it sticks around, often longer than actual people do. Take wills, for example; no one gets an inheritance based on what they were told verbally, if it wasn't written down, you might as well forget everything you were promised. That written will has more effect than any told word, even (and especially) after the person who wrote it is gone.

That is why the sibling in the story below refuses to keep going with the agreement they set with their family. Without proof that they will get what they were promised, they can't sign anything yet. Verbal promises are not worth much in the property business…

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AITA for refusing to sign over my half of a property until I get legal security?

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