A frustrated mother took to Reddit recently to ask for opinions after she sued her husband for custody of their daughter and told him his lack of money was not her problem. This is her full story.
She Has Primary Custody of Her Daughter
OP is a 36-year-old woman with a 12-year-old daughter. She has been divorced from her 39-year-old ex-husband for five years.
OP has primary custody of the daughter, while her ex has visitation rights two weekends a month. He has remarried and has two stepdaughters, ages 8 and 10.
The ex-husband works a 9-to-5 job, but his wife stays home with the kids. On the other hand, OP is a working single mother and has a higher-paying job than her ex.
Because she makes good money, OP ensures that her daughter has a comfortable life, attending a private school and providing her with nice clothes and other amenities.
The Stepmother Steals Her Daughter’s Clothes!
Lately, OP’s daughter has been returning from her visits to her father’s house with ill-fitting and cheaper clothes than what her mother buys her.
When pressed, the girl admitted that her stepmother takes away her nicer clothes and gives them to her own children from a previous marriage.
Hearing that made OP livid, but her daughter didn’t want to cause any trouble. She said she was happy to share with her younger half-siblings. And besides, she kept all her favorite clothes there at home with her mom.
During one particular weekend, OP had a business meeting and couldn’t pick up her daughter from school and drive her to the ex’s house as usual. The stepmother offered to pick up the girl from school instead.
And Punishes Her
When OP went to pick up her daughter on Sunday, the girl came out of her room to hug her mother. But the stepmother told her to go back to her room because she was still being punished.
OP barely had time to get angry before her ex and his wife told her to sit down. They said that it was unfair for OP’s daughter to attend a private school while the other girls went to a public school.
They had decided to pull OP’s daughter out of her private school and enroll her in the same school as the new wife’s kids.
Needless to say, OP rejected that idea and told her ex it was unfair to disrupt their daughter’s education and social life because of his financial situation.
Their Money Problems Are Not Her Responsibility
She suggested that his wife could help out by going back to work if they really wanted to send their girls to private school.
OP went on to say that the couple’s money problems are not her responsibility. She threatened to take the matter to court if any more of her daughter’s belongings were stolen or if they tried to change her school.
Since that argument, the ex and his wife have been blowing up her phone with text messages and voicemails. They accuse her of being selfish for not caring about how unfair the school situation is to their daughters.
OP told the whole story to a friend, looking for support. But instead, the friend seemed to side with the ex, suggesting that OP may have been insensitive by flaunting her success while the other couple was struggling.
Awarded Fuller Custody
Eventually, OP did end up in court and was awarded more complete custody, which limits her ex to supervised visits once per week. It also gives OP the final say in making any decisions about her daughter’s schooling.
OP has no intention of backing down, but she wonders if she’s being unreasonable in any way.
Redditors are almost unanimously on OP’s side with this one. They think she is a strong and protective mother and urge her to keep fighting for her daughter’s rights.
They Are Supportive of Her
Many suggest that the dad should have his parental rights reduced even further, and some marvel at OP’s restraint in dealing with her ex’s new wife.
Some commenters warn OP that her “friend” doesn’t seem to have her best interests in mind, either.
So, what do you think of this story? Is OP right for standing her ground and refusing to move her daughter out of private school?
Or should she try to find a compromise with her ex-husband so that his stepdaughters don’t feel left out?
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The post Her Stepmother Steals Her Clothes, so She Got Fuller Custody of Her Daughter first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Dean Drobot. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit