A man has turned to Reddit to seek outside advice after he and his current wife got into an argument regarding finances and their children.
The man explained on the r/AITA subreddit that he has a blended family. He has a son from a past marriage, however, the wife passed away. He also has two young kids with his current wife, and his current wife has two kids of her own from a past marriage.
The husband explains in his Reddit post, that when his son’s mother passed away, she told him that she wanted a percentage of the money they got from the compensation she got for her misdiagnosis to go to her son. This would be added onto what they had already saved for him and wouldn’t be touched by anyone else as per the mother’s dying request.
Of course, times are tough and the cost of living crisis has led to financial strife for many families. It’s no surprise to hear that a blended family with five children would be struggling in the current economic climate. While the original poster and his current wife had a plan for saving money for their children, the economic struggle led to the wife suggesting they put all their cards on the table.
This included the son’s savings
The poster claims that he got into an argument with his wife after she asked to know how much money had been put aside for his son. This was something he was not willing to disclose, especially considering it shouldn’t even factor into their finances at all. The wife then goes a step further in suggesting they split the money between the kids.
The situation is similar to another post made on the subreddit in which a husband tried to use his stepson’s survivor benefits to pay for his house.
Regardless, the OP was reluctant to break a promise he made to his late wife but this decision has put his current marriage on the line. Unfortunately his wife was less than understanding, accusing him of not trusting her; however, the husband stood firm, telling her, “it’s not my money, nor is it her money or money that we can or should be accessing.”
Of course, we can all doubt our decisions sometimes, so he asked the people of Reddit whether he was truly in the wrong in this case. The response from Redditors confirmed that most agreed with the OP. “It’s your son’s money it’s from his mother.” Wrote one person, “Full stop end of story 4 out of your 5 kids have 2 parents.” Others suggested the husband look into setting up a trust fund if he hasn’t already so the money is in his son’s name.
