Woman’s Great-Grandfather Makes Every Newly Engaged Couple In The Family Go No Contact For 365 Days If They Want Inheritance
They call it 'The Year Without.'
IVASHstudio / Shutterstock / CanvaPro Many families have traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. One woman shared her family's bizarre tradition that has continued for decades — and has actually guaranteed successful marriages!
The woman’s great-grandfather requires every newly engaged couple to go no contact for a year if they want to inherit any money from him.
In a TikTok video that has been viewed over 4 million times, Luisa Melcher explained the origin of this unusual family tradition.
“My great-grandfather was a very, very, very, very wealthy man and he had eight children,” she said. “His first daughter was named Amelia and she married this man after only dating him for three months.”
As it turns out, Amelia’s fiancé was only after her father’s money and stole a great deal of it — an amount estimated to be around $25 million today — soon after getting married. "He just took all of it and then divorced her," she revealed.
To ensure that nothing like that would happen again, Melcher’s great-grandfather implemented a new family tradition that he dubbed 'The Year Without.'
“He set up this system where there are trust funds for all of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but in order to unlock them, you have to meet the criteria that he set up,” Melcher explained — one of those being The Year Without.
Per The Year Without guidelines, every couple who becomes engaged in the family must go 365 days with no contact before they can get married. The no contact begins the day after the engagement.
Photo: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A / Shutterstock
According to Melcher, the intention behind this rule is “to make sure that you have enough perspective on the world and perspective on that person.” Essentially, they must ensure that they are making the right decision and that their reasons to get married go beyond the financial.
Melcher revealed that some couples in her family chose not to participate in the family tradition, fearing that it would be too taxing on their relationship. However, she claimed that the amount of money on the line is “life-changing.”
“My mom’s brother and sister did The Year Without and they are in a completely different tax bracket than my parents [who did not do The Year Without],” Melcher said. “My cousins had a completely different lifestyle than I did growing up”
Melcher shared that she and her boyfriend will soon have to choose whether or not they will participate in the family tradition.
The two have talked it over, and believe that they are up for the challenge to obtain the monetary prize at the end.
“We realized that we could be completely financially independent and just pursue our dreams for the rest of our lives and quit our jobs that we hate,” Melcher said. “How could we say no to that substantial of a gift?”
As for whether or not couples remained faithful to each other throughout the no-contact period, Melcher shared that some did, while others didn't. “It all depends on how you interpret the Year Without,” she added.
However, those who cheat purportedly do so because they want to determine if their future spouse is truly who they want to spend the rest of their life with. "I'm definitely not going to be cheating on my fiancé," she clarified.
Melcher also revealed that there is a private investigative firm that is not affiliated with her family that will monitor the couple throughout the year. “People have gotten disqualified from being at the same store at the same time!” she claimed. As a precaution, Melcher will be moving to a different city after she and her boyfriend get engaged to avoid losing the money.
Photo: Antonio Guillem / Shutterstock
Every family has their own unique set of traditions, though not all as dramatic as this family's. It's important to note that when you are preparing to marry your person, you are beginning your own family and have the grounds to start new traditions of your own — or continue with the long-standing ones.
In Melcher's case, she seems willing to continue her family's tradition, though she does have quite the incentive.
"Out of the 40+ couples in my family who’ve survived the Year Without, ZERO of them have gotten divorced," Melcher wrote in the caption of her video. "So maybe my great-grandpa was actually onto something."
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.