The wrong person can bring a secret to light faster than anything else.

So, what would you do if you’d been holding onto a secret that was meant to protect your family?

Would you keep it hidden to avoid hurting anyone?

Or would you risk sharing it with someone you thought you could trust?

In the following story, one man finds himself in this exact situation and trusts the wrong person.

Here’s what happened.

AITAH for not giving my mom all the details when she asked my dad for a divorce

I (38M) am going through a huge fight with my family right now and would like some perspective.

My dad cheated on my mom about 10 years ago, and once it came to light, he disappeared for a few years.

Not only was what he did wrong, but his handling of the separation was awful as well.

When we finally did establish contact with him about 3 years later, my dad had terminal cancer.

My mom wanted a divorce.

I was the only one with contact with my dad, so I gave my mom as much info as I could (most notably his address so she could serve him). And she had him served.

At first, both sides were out to get each other.

At first, my dad wanted to fight my mom and take as much from her as he could, so he had a lawyer draft a letter saying he would give her the divorce if she paid a lot of money.

She didn’t have very much and consulted some friends who were attorneys.

They told her that if my dad died, she would be much better off financially since he was the sole breadwinner for most of the marriage, and if he passed, she could claim higher Social Security benefits.

So then she wanted to stay married.

My dad did some similar research and figured out that if he did sign the divorce papers, it would be much worse for my mom.

He convinced his dad not to do his mother wrong.

My dad and I had multiple conversations about it, and I convinced him that he shouldn’t sign the divorce papers.

This happened a couple of years ago, and he’s brought it up a few times since then.

Still, I always bring up the discussion we had prior, that hurting my mom basically will hurt his children, since my mom doesn’t have much money and will likely depend upon us when she can no longer work.

I recently visited my brother, and he told me he thought my mom should get divorced because it’s “holding her back” from her life.

My mom is in a new LTR, and I really didn’t know what he meant, and he couldn’t give any examples when asked.

I also disclosed the convos I had with my dad years ago.

When his mom found out, she was upset.

Apparently, this made him uncomfortable, and he told me I had to tell my mom.

We argued a bit on that, but he said if I didn’t, he would.

So I told my mom.

It’s created a bit of a firestorm because my mom says I had no right to discuss her matters with my dad, never mind that I was advocating for what she wanted.

I feel that in the case where my dad was going to sign the papers, not taking action is still making a choice.

And I don’t feel like my mom needed to know about those conversations because it would just create more drama.

Especially at the time I talked to my dad about it, my mom was in a really bad place, freaking out about money and what the rest of her life would look like.

At least that’s my reasoning.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see why he did what he did, but at the same time, it was her business.

Let’s see how the fine folks over at Reddit feel about what happened.

This person thinks his mother’s upset because her voice was taken.

According to this reader, he should’ve spoken with his mother.

For this person, the mother should speak to a lawyer.

Here’s someone who understands.

He did the right thing.

However, next time, it may be a good idea to let his mother in on the details, so she can make her own decisions.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.