A woman is refusing to give her ex-husband's children any money after his death despite them launching legal action against her, claiming that she "stole all his money".
The woman, who has remained anonymous, said that she had three children with her husband before they divorced, and since then he had remarried, had two other children, before becoming single once again.
She says he had battled with mental health issues all his life, but finally he sought help and the pair re-established a close friendship.
But then he got sick and his medical bills were bankrupting him, so his first wife offered to let him move back in - in a strictly un-romantic fashion - while he got treatment.
Unfortunately the man passed away, and the woman was shocked when she received a court summons from her ex-husband's other children demanding she pay them their father's inheritance.
Posting the story on Reddit, the woman said: "Three years ago, I got a court summons. His other two other kids decided that their father had remarried me and I 'stole all his money' for myself/my kids. I was basically just the devil, and they were going to get what they were owed.
"This was completely wrong. I never remarried my ex. While we lived together as a family for the past almost six years, it was not even a little romantic, and it would have been stupid to remarry him - his medical bills were insane.
"There was no money for any of the kids because he had no money. I was fine to have his kids come over, which was usually 50/50 aside from years two and six, but I never pretended to be a parent to them.
"The reason there's some money now is because I was able to establish a good career, and my current husband was established when we met.
"I tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't listen and insisted on going before a judge."
When the case eventually got to court, the judge was able to go though the records of everyone involved and agreed that the woman had not stolen her ex husband's money.
His other children then claimed the woman had enhanced her career because the man supported her, which the judge ruled against, and at the end of the court proceedings, the man's other children lost - but had racked up thousands in legal fees.
The woman continued: "During the hearing, when records were pulled out, they switched to the argument that my ex acted as a stay at home parent for me, which allowed me to grow my career. This didn't work and their case was dismissed.
"Now their not only still low income, but they've racked up lawyer's fees.
"They're now crying to anyone that will listen about how evil I am to bankrupt teenagers and how they're even more unable to go to college because I won't 'be fair'.
"Some of our mutual relatives are now saying that I should care more about these kids because they were basically my step kids even if not by law, and that family isn't that black and white."
After sharing her story, other users of the site were quick to agree with the woman - saying she had done nothing wrong.
One person said: "They played dirty and now they are paying for it, not your problem."
And another added: "I cannot imagine why anybody would think you should help people who tried to sue you."
While a third person contributed: "And to the mutual relatives that say 'family isn't so black and white': how much financial support are they giving to these boys?"
