My Daughter Earns $215k But I Pay For Her Teslas And Mortgage. When I Cut Her Off To Save Myself From Bankruptcy, She Sued Me For “elder Exploitation.” Am I The Jerk For Choosing My Dream Trip Over Her Luxury Lifestyle?
“Mom, what the hell did you do? The bank just called about the mortgage. Call me back!”
“Linda, this is Brad. I think there’s been some kind of mistake with the bank. Can you please call us and sort this out?”
“Mom, you can’t do this! You can’t! We have children! What are we supposed to do? This is so unbelievably cruel. I never thought my own mother could be this heartless.”
The Storm After the Silence
There were 47 calls the first week. There were over a hundred text messages. Some were pleading, some were angry, and some tried to guilt-trip me with photos of the kids.
I didn’t respond to any of them. In week two, Brad showed up at my door. I watched through the peephole as he rang the bell repeatedly, then knocked, then called my phone while standing on my porch.
I didn’t answer. He finally left a note under my door.
Linda, we need to talk face to face about this. You’re making a huge mistake that will hurt everyone, especially Olivia and Mason. Please reconsider. This isn’t who you are.
But maybe it was who I needed to be. In week three, I got a call from Olivia’s school. The tuition was overdue, and they wanted to know when payment would arrive.
“I’m no longer responsible for that tuition,” I said calmly. “You’ll need to contact the parents, Jessica and Brad Morrison.”
There was a pause.
“Mrs. Morrison, I’m a bit confused. We were told by Mrs. Morrison that you would continue to handle the payments and that there might be a delay due to some technical banking issues.”
My blood ran cold.
“That’s not accurate. I’ve made the decision to stop paying the tuition. Jessica and Brad will need to make their own arrangements.”
“I see. Well, we’ll need to speak with them immediately. If payment isn’t received within 30 days, we’ll have to ask the children to withdraw.”
After I hung up, I sat very still, processing what Jessica had done. She’d lied to the school and blamed me for technical issues rather than admit the truth. She was still trying to manipulate the situation to make me the villain.
The really painful part? I almost fell for it. I almost called the school back and paid the tuition just to spare my grandchildren the embarrassment.
That’s when I called Margaret.
“I’m proud of you,” She said. “I know this is hard—harder than hard—but you’re doing the right thing.”
“They’re going to hate me forever,” I said.
“Maybe. Or maybe they’ll grow up. Maybe they’ll realize that you love them enough to stop enabling their worst impulses.”
“What if I’m making a terrible mistake?”
“What if you’re not? What if this is the moment that changes everything?”
Week four, things escalated. I got a letter from an attorney representing Jessica and Brad. They were requesting a family meeting to discuss the “financial abandonment of minor children” and “potential elder exploitation concerns.”
They were threatening me with legal action. They were suggesting I wasn’t competent to make my own decisions. I forwarded the letter to Mr. Chen immediately.
His response was swift and professional. It was a letter to their attorney clarifying that I was of sound mind, under no exploitation, and exercising my legal right to manage my own finances. He included documentation from my doctor confirming my mental competency and copies of my new estate planning documents.
