Kids are often the biggest victims of divorce, and the courts that are supposed to protect them can sometimes make things even worse.

What would you do if your mom had full custody of you growing up, but she refused to provide you with anything you needed, while always telling you to go to your dad since it was his fault?

That is what happened to the brother and sister in this story, so the brother finally went to the father for help.

Keep reading to see how that worked out.

I did what my mom told me to do, and got revenge.

So, just some backstory here: My parents divorced when I was just in Kindergarten, so no more than 6.

My mom got full custody of us and she suffered from mental illness (I believe she has borderline personality disorder, and she was also a typical narcissistic parent).

Anyway, ever since the divorce she would always tell us how it was not her fault we didn’t have enough money for things and blame my dad.

For example, if there was nothing to eat for breakfast and we complained like small children do when they were hungry, she snapped, “It’s your father’s fault so cry to him.”

How sad, kids shouldn’t have to do this.

I just learned never to complain and do without and spent my childhood taking care of her.

My sister and I were trained from when I was about 8 (my sister 10) to come right home from school and do our homework and clean the house and take care of ourselves.

Don’t ask mom to make dinner, make it yourself, and all of the chores so Mom doesn’t have to do anything.

It sounds bizarre but we thought that was normal as well as being hit and told on a daily basis that we were worthless.

What a waste.

It got worse my senior year of high school.

My grandma died a few months before that summer and my mom quit her job and blew through the money my grandma left her before the summer was over (this was close to 75k back in 2000).

She refused to get another job and kept coming up with excuses not to work (i.e. “I need a break.” “Get off my back.” “I hurt my leg.” Etc) while she was going out drinking with her friend and acting like a carefree teenager.

Their childhood was basically ruined.

So, I spent my senior year working hard at school, at my part time job after school, and pretty much taking care of an overgrown child who refused to work or help out.

Any time a utility shut off or there was no food left in the house she just griped, “You have a job. Why can’t you pay it?”

If I brought up the fact that my dad sent her child support, she would just complain that she had my sister’s tuition (which I later learn was bs).

She would flaunt that child support check and laugh and refer to it as, “Mommy’s Paycheck”.

It is amazing that the kids seem to be doing ok, despite their mother.

Flash forward to when I am about to choose a college and my mom keeps bellyaching about the costs and of course has $0 saved in a college fund.

I couldn’t afford a private university since I only was offered a partial scholarship so I decided to go to a reasonably priced and still highly regarded state university.

My freshman year I was pretty much able to swing the cost of tuition and room and board (I lived on campus) since last year of high school I filed my taxes and FAFSA as soon as my w2’s came in so I had a decent amount of grants.

Why on Earth would the mom do this?

During my first year of college, I almost became unable to receive financial aid for my second year of college.

Why? My w2’s were mailed to my home address and my mom being the caring and supportive mother she was, shredded them and threw them in the trash.

I found out because my sister was home that weekend and saw it.

My mom denied and when I came home for Spring break and pressed her for it she lied and said her friend had them (her friend was a CPA).

Mom isn’t just bad, she is evil.

My sister called my mom out on this bluff by calling the friend who said she did not have any of our tax information. She was very concerned and told me and my sister to request duplicate w2’s and have them sent home and she will have my mom send them over to me.

My mom was mad that we had checked with her friend and called her out on her bluff, but true to her word her friend did my taxes for me and my FAFSA (I had offered to pay her or at least baby sit for her but she told me it was okay. I think she knew my mom was mentally unstable and felt sorry for me and my sister).

Sadly, the courts don’t care what child support is spent on.

At this point I learned that my mom had not been helping out my sister at all with tuition like she claimed and my sister had mentioned it to my dad who had called her out and demanded to know where the child support was going to.

My mom insisted he wasn’t paying her enough $ and that’s why she couldn’t help us out.

He needs to change his address at this point.

During my second year of college my w2s were once again sent home and my mom once again “accidently” threw them in trash.

I had to request duplicate w2’s from my summer job not just once but twice because she kept throwing them in the trash.

I filed my tax return late that year and as a result my Fafsa was filed late so I wasn’t able to get the full amount I was receiving before.

At this point, why doesn’t he go live with his dad?

Any time I complained to her about money or no food in the house it was, “Complain to your father.”

Well, the summer before my third year I was burned out on my mom. I was working full time for the summer and saving as much as I could but she was refusing to help me out at all while I was home with food or anything.

Mom is extremely entitled.

She was mad that instead of paying the phone bill so she could make long distance calls to her online friends and spend all day in chat rooms (this was back when we had dial up) I had the audacity to spend my hard earned money on a cell phone and pay that bill myself.

She told everyone I should just drop out because I wasn’t apply myself hard enough (I was in the honors program) and she would play martyr with all her friends about “it’s so hard when you have kids in college and they eat you out of house and home and come to you for money.”

College is so expensive.

At the end of the summer I had saved a thousand dollars but the school won’t let me move into the dorm unless I paid 50% up front which I was about 10k.

I didn’t know what to do as all summer the university had told me I was fine and then on move in day told me I couldn’t move into the dorm.

Good thing that Dad can help.

I called my dad in a panic and he spoke to someone who agreed to give me 24 hours.

I moved in and the next day my dad showed up first thing with a coffee and a donut for me and told me not to worry: he was going to fix this once and for all.

We went from office to office on campus and he cosigned a loan (which he later paid off for me) and then he paid the balance on my tuition for the loan didn’t cover.

Sometimes, kids need to know the truth.

He then took me out to lunch and told me the truth: my mom never helped my sister with her tuition (my sister had graduated the summer before my junior year of college).

My sister later confirmed this but was not surprised my mom had lied.

My dad had cosigned loan to help my sister out (which he later paid off for her) and my sister was able to get a scholarship and do coop to pay for her last two years.

He also advised me that my mom was not so poorly off: as part of the divorce settlement he had to pay the mortgage and property taxes on our house and even though my sister was now out on her own he was still paying her the same amount of child support of about 2k a month despite the fact that I was living on campus for 75% of the year and my mom was not given me a dime.

Any child would be hurt by this.

I was hurt to think my mom was just living off my child support and constantly making me feel guilty for wanting anything or for not being able to cater to her every whim (she would get mad that I wouldn’t come home on the weekends to help her clean the house that I was not living in).

I thought about how bad she made me feel growing up and made me feel worthless when in fact, had it not been for me or my sister she would have not had a roof over her head after the divorce.

This sounds like a great arrangement.

He asks me to grant him access to my account so he could prove my mom was not paying for college and that I was. He asked me how I would feel if he took care of college instead of paying my mom child support.

Sounded good to me.

He even told me I could spend my breaks at his house instead of my mom’s.

People like this rarely have any remorse.

I called my mom and told her that my dad had taken care of the issue and she had no remorse.

She told me it was my own fault for not planning my finances better and for wasting away my money all summer.

I just played it dumb and said she was right but pointed out I had done what she told me to do and complained to my dad.

Her free money is coming to an end.

A month later my mom called me up MAD! My dad had spoken with the courts and there was going to be a hearing in their divorce case.

My dad had proven that my mom had not been paying for mine nor my sister’s tuition for college and that was the very reason my dad was obligated to pay child support till I was done college.

Hopefully the courts can see reason here.

Since I was living on campus, it didn’t make sense to pay her child support when I was not living at home most of the year and she wasn’t given me one penny.

My dad told the judge he would gladly pay for me to finish college but he was not going to pay my mom anymore child support no pay the mortgage on the house.

This would work out just fine.

If my mom didn’t want to take over the mortgage, they could sell the house and I could live with him over my breaks.

My mom was freaking out over this and calling me selfish.

I just reminded her that my tuition must cost a lot more than what she got in child support since she was never able to help me with costs of school.

She just kept laying guilt trips on me about how I was selfish because she didn’t get to go to college right after high school and how she never got to have four care free years of college.

Talk about no self-awareness.

I pointed out to her that she had not worked since my grandma died about 3 years ago and that I was working and going to school at that time while she got to live a carefree life.

She pretty much ripped me a new one at that point.

She tried to get back at my dad by not paying utilities on the house to make it seem like she needed the money.

This young man is still being far nicer to his mom than she deserves.

She then told me that the electric and water were now shut off so if I wanted to come home for winter break I needed to help her out (she had moved in with her boyfriend at his condo).

I just told her that I would miss her but that I would just go to my dad’s for winter break.

She was mad and cried about how selfish I was for not wanting to come home for Christmas.

I told my mom that I would come and visit her over my winter break once she got the utilities turned on.

It is nice that his dad is excited to include him in the family Christmas.

I told my dad what was going on and he said he and my stepmom and my half brother and sister were thrilled I was going to stay with them for winter break and he can get me a job in his office as well for winter break!

He also called my mom and reminded her that the child support had not stopped, and they were going to list the house in a few months so what was this nonsense about the utilities being shut off?

She was mad but magically came up with the money to turn them back on.

It sounds like Dad must make decent money, so I’m surprised he got a lot of financial aid.

That spring my dad took officially by the court took over my college tuition and he even made sure I got my full financial aide since he had picked up w2s for me.

My mom lost her child support and was told by the judge that she better cooperate with the sale of the house and keep up with the utility bills etc. so it would sale.

Will he even be sad to see his mother move away?

Her boyfriend moved in with her till the house sold and she moved to another time zone.

The real kicker? It was cheaper for my dad to pay college costs, than to pay her child support!

It is always sad and surprising to see just how bad some parents can be, and how it is even worse because the courts often force kids to live in those situations.

Let’s see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about it.

This was a very difficult story.

I agree with this commenter.

I’m betting mom poisoned them against the father.

Sometimes the courts make it so hard for good parents to help.

This commenter was raised in a similar situation.

It is terrible how many parents treat their kids so badly.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.