"Family Favoritism and Estate Planning: Ask Amy's Advice"

A reader seeks advice on a family dilemma involving estate planning and favoritism. The reader's mother-in-law wants to transfer a vacation cottage to the reader's husband but intends to leave the rest of her estate to the husband's brother. However, the mother-in-law also expects the reader to provide significant funds for her favored granddaughter's education, threatening to sell the cottage otherwise. The reader is torn between preserving the family relationship and not wanting to use their hard-earned money to support the granddaughter's education due to the history of favoritism. The columnist advises the reader to consider other options and not surrender the high road, as they cannot control the mother-in-law's decisions.