Oh yeah, I know it was legal. Just bitter as all hell about it. My brother is in poverty now. He got married in MA to his partner of 32 years, who passed away recently. The taxes wiped him out clean. SS and going back to restoring the occasional piano , and renting out a room or 2 in the house...though I doubt he'll earn enough to keep up on the real estate taxes, as it's in an expensive neighborhood. He really just needs to unload the house and invest the proceeds. Just sucks that a 59 year old with severe Lupus has to go through all that.