Husband Furious At His Wife For Saying She's Leaving All Her Money To Her Own Kids And Not His
Does she even owe them anything? Especially given her husband's wealth?
Worawee Meepian's Images | Proxima Studio / Canva Pro Money and inheritances are one of the easiest ways to cause family strain. But when you combine that with the already fraught dynamics of a blended family? The drama can go to a whole new level.
For one woman on Reddit, her end-of-life preparations have sparked a huge family conflict that feels weirdly unnecessary, not just to her but to many others as well.
Her husband is furious she's not leaving money to her stepchildren in her will.
Blended families are pretty much always complicated, but when they happen after the kids are already grown up with lives of their own it's typically a lot simpler. That's the situation this woman and her husband are in.
They got married two years ago when she was 49. Her two children are grown with children of their own, and all but one of his four children are out of the house, too, with his 19-year-old youngest still living at home.
But their blended family harmony was upset entirely when she recently began making her end-of-life plans. When she announced they would not include her husband's four children, a major conflict broke out.
A cancer patient for 33 years, the woman wants to make sure her children and grandchildren are set after she passes.
"I have been battling cancer since I was 28," the mom wrote in her post. "It’s come back three times, and now I am at a point in my life where I am 'comfortably' living with cancer." Given her situation, the end could come sooner than expected, and it's important to her to be prepared.
"It’s been weighing heavy on my mind to make sure everything’s in order in case of the worst," she writes, "and I had told my husband I had planned to leave everything to my children and grandchildren. I wanted to make sure they were set."
Especially given that both her daughters now have children and her eldest daughter is widowed, it's even more important to her that they be well taken care of after she's gone. But, her husband has very different ideas about how her money should be handled.
Her husband feels betrayed that she does not intend to leave anything to her step kids, and his children are upset, too.
Her husband called her "horrible" when she discussed her plans with him, "because I married a man knowing he had children." He insists that her not leaving money to her stepchildren "would make them feel unloved."
"I love my stepchildren like my own," she wrote, but she feels that her own kids simply take precedence, especially given that one of them is widowed.
Perhaps more importantly, her husband is an oral surgeon with his own wealth. "He makes great money, and what he chooses to do with it after he passes is up to him," she wrote in her post.
Despite all that, he's so angry he's stopped speaking to her. He also told his oldest daughter about the situation, and she is deeply upset by her decision as well.
"I don’t have much to offer, not like my husband," she wrote, "but I don’t see the big deal." Still, she doesn't want anyone to feel hurt by the situation. "My husband says it’s the principal," she explained, "I married a man with children." But does that entitle them to her money?
Stepchildren have no legal rights to their stepparents' assets, and many felt this woman's family was way out of line.
Estate lawyers say that while it's not uncommon for stepparents to leave their step kids something in their wills, it's entirely a matter of personal choice because stepchildren have no legal claim to assets unless stipulated in a will.
And many on Reddit found it extremely strange that this woman's husband and stepchildren were so upset about her decision given the circumstances, and especially since they've only been married two years.
"Of your 51 years of life, this man has not been in 49 of those… Why on earth would they expect to be part of the will of a woman they only met 2 years ago when they were already grown-ups?" one commenter wrote. The woman added that they dated for a year and a half before marriage, but still — that's an awfully short period of time to feel this entitled to an inheritance.
And many felt it was a red flag. "He may be a high earner as an oral surgeon, but I would not be surprised if he married you for money," that commenter added. "I agree with this," another wrote. "There are many high earners who are absolutely broke." Others pointed out that given his high income, the fact that there was no prenup to hammer this all out beforehand is another red flag.
In the end, the uproar seems to have given the woman pause—she wrote in replies to comments that she's doing "research" on how to proceed.
Situations like this are surely part of why financial experts recommend discussing finances before walking down the aisle, especially when children are involved. It saves you tons of stress and heartache down the road. Nothing so easily comes between people quite like money, after all.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.