[LeifCarrotson]

I'm optimistic that you're just playing devil's advocate here, so I'll respond politely, because this article has my blood simmering. Not boiling yet, but close.

One important correction: The grandfather was aware of the finances for the first 20 of 30 years, the OP says that the losses occurred "since that time". So it's 10 years, not 30; multiply any compensation by 3.

A second, more important correction: the 'compensation' to the aunt comes from drawing on grandma's assets and also her income. OP asserts that grandma's income is $7k/month, or $840k. Added to the $400k in assets spent/lost, this is one and a quarter million dollars.

$13k/year is not enough to be visibly irresponsible with money, it's a reasonable or even small rate for family care. But $125k/year is unsustainable, as demonstrated by grandma's dwindling assets.

[ryandrake]

Counter-devil's advocate: The older you get, the more (exponentially sometimes) expensive it gets to keep you going from day to day. Depending on one's health, the cost of surviving an extra 6 months could be as much as the cost to stay living during the previous 10 years.

[csydas]

Counter-Counter I suppose:

Regardless of the cost of living, death does very strange things to people and can flip an entire history of a relationship on its head. It happened with my family where a relatively calm and expected death ended up estranging members of the family because of what the deceased had written in the will.

I really am not looking forward to my parents' passing, as I live (and probably will still be) living abroad, though I am executor of their estate. Inheritance always brings out bad blood.