A gift is supposed to belong to the person it’s given to.

So when one college student learned her parents had unfairly split her grandfather’s gift to her with her brother, she realized her voice hadn’t factored into the decision at all.

And being told to pretend it was her idea only deepened the wound.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for being mad at my parents for splitting money gifted to me with my brother?

I (f, 23) live further away from my parents currently.

They attended a family get-together, except I wasn’t there because of exam season.

I’ll also be going to Japan for an exchange year through my university soon. This is relevant, as one of my grandfathers apparently gifted me 500€.

I thought it was probably a bit of support for my exchange year.

But little did she know, her parents had other plans for this money.

But the way I learned about it was that my parents had already split the money that was gifted to me between me and my brother (m, 20).

So both of us would get 250€.

And I am just upset, as I saved up a lot for this exchange year, and I still could use any penny.

She’s also upset that her parents would behave this way.

But it is also more about the fact that my parents just decided to do that without asking me, who this money was gifted to, first.

For a bit more context, my parents think my grandfather is being unfair, as he seemingly favors me and my cousin (also f, 23).

If her parents have a problem, she believes they should address that with him privately.

While I don’t know about what my grandfather gifts my brother, even so, I believe it should be their responsibility to talk that out with my grandfather.

Instead, they always rely on me.

At the same time, she feels like she can’t fully fight back.

And in my current situation, I am also kind of relying on my parents financially, so I feel like I cannot start a fight over this.

My mother kind of forced me to write to my grandfather that I decided to split the money on my own volition.

I felt awful lying, but I did that.

So when her grandfather stood up for her, she told her parents, but they didn’t believe her.

My grandfather then told me that the money was only intended for me, and I should get it back.

When I told that to my parents, they just waved it off and said that I should just tell him that I would do that, like, get the money back.

But I know for sure my parents won’t give it back.

So AITA?

No one should be forced to part with money that’s rightfully theirs.

What did Reddit think?

Her parents identified a problem, but this isn’t the way to solve it.

Maybe she could work something out with her grandfather separately?

This situation just doesn’t sound right, especially for a 23 year old.

There seems to be a much simpler alternative the parents aren’t realizing.

If this was truly about fairness, they could have started with asking her first.

The money got divided, but so did the trust.

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.