Losing a parent is difficult at any age, but especially when you’re a kid.

The guy in this story is a young adult now, but was just a small child when his mom passed.

Understandably, though he was taken care of by his grandmother, he missed that parent-child relationship, and naturally wanted to rekindle a relationship with his father once he was grown.

And all was going well – until it wasn’t any more.

Read on to find out what happened.

WIBTA for pressing charges on my father?

I am nineteen and male, and my mother passed back when I was about six years old, when she was thirty.

My dad, 35 when she died, was in prison at the time.

When my mother passed I started receiving survivor benefits from social security. They all went to my nana, since she got custody of me and my brothers.

But as he grew older, he decided to build a relationship with his father.

Around two years ago I got back in touch with my dad hoping he wasn’t the awful guy I remembered him to be.

He was doing good for a while, so back in March 2025 I decided to move in with him.

Since I was eighteen at the time, the survivor benefits were coming to me.

Our deal was for me to let him hold onto the the checks in a safe, so I wouldn’t spend it all on stupid stuff. I trusted him (bigggggg mistake).

Let’s see how this situation with his dad went donw.

So I stopped getting these checks around June, right after I graduated – I’ve only used about three since I turned 18 (the ones from before I moved in with him).

He wouldn’t let me use any of the other checks while I was living with him.

I moved out for about a month because of that, then I moved back in.

Mind you, he wants me to pay rent to live with him even though I didn’t have a job and he practically begged for me to move in with him.

But this situation was even worse than it seemed.

I’ve been graduated for a good while now, and recently started my first job – so I wanted to use my checks to get a car or bike.

He refused to give them up, so around December I went to the social security office to get them voided, and came to find out all of them have been cashed via cash app (not mine).

He doesn’t know that know he’s used them, so now I’m trying to keep it that way while I’m thinking of pressing charges – especially since he wants me to pay back all the rent that I “owe” him and utilities.

Would I be wrong to press charges on him for theft and forgery and sue him for the money he stole from me?

WIBTA?

Sure his dad was once in prison, but people can change – so this guy is not stupid or naive for trusting his dad.

After all, it’s natural that he wanted a relationship with his father, and it’s natural to want to trust our parents.

It’s just a shame that his father was only interested in exploiting him this whole time.

Let’s see what Reddit made of this.

This person thought he simply needed to get out of there.

While others encouraged him to take practical steps.

And this Redditor thought he should get the police involved.

Whether or not it was right to trust his father, that’s what this guy did – and now he’s in quite a sticky situation.

His dad has clearly cashed the checks, and sure, given they’re intended for living expenses, that might be justifiable – but dad doesn’t get the checks and the rent and utilities that he is trying to make his son pay. That’s exactly what the money he stole was for.

In reality, this guy needs to get as far away from his father as possible, and to redirect any further funds that might be coming his way.

His dad’s a loser.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.