Stealing is wrong. Stealing from family is also wrong, but some parents and family members try to justify it as not really stealing.

In this story, one teenage girl has a joint account with her mom where they put money she was awarded from a lawsuit when a drunk driver crashed into them. She didn’t have access to the account until she turned 18, and now that she has access, she’s furious at her mom.

Her mom took the money without even telling her, money she planned to use to pay for her college education. Now, she’s not sure how to afford college, she’s furious at her mom, and she’s not sure what to do to make things right.

It’s complicated, stressful and just truly awful! Let’s read the whole story to see what happened and if there’s any way she can get the money back.

Mom Took my Money

A few years ago I got in a really bad car wreck with my mom.

A drunk driver hit us and we were able to sue the person.

She got 45k from the suit, I got 25k once I turned 18. I got access to this account through the government on my 18th birthday.

Yikes! Her mom sounds awful!

Months afterwards my mother took 12 thousand dollars from my account without telling me (we have a parent/child account).

I noticed this and called her out on it asking why she did that (as anyone would).

And she called me an ungrateful daughter, told me to go hurt myself and blocked me.

She was mad because she previously agreed to pay for my college and claimed it was none of my business what she was doing with the money.

It got even worse!

She eventually half heartedly apologized and said she would pay me back slowly.

She took this back when I brought it up again earlier this month.

She once again blew up and called me ungrateful, selfish and unempathetic. She said she wanted to wipe her hands clean of me.

I just found out that she has now taken out all 25 thousand dollars from my account, including some of the money I’ve made from my job.

She really should’ve taken action sooner.

I was going to take away her access to my account months ago but I didn’t in fear that she would blow up again.

Now all of the money that I was going to spend on my master’s degree and housing after college is gone.

She has been emotionally neglectful and parentified me my entire life.

I feel the least she could do is support my education like she promised to do my entire life up until now.

She doesn’t want to sue her mom.

I know she isn’t required to pay for my education but she promised this since I was a child.

I’m getting straight a’s in college to try to earn scholarships and grants to make it easier financially.

I would have helped pay for my education if she just talked to me about it.

I’m unsure if I am truly being ungrateful and selfish and not realizing it. I know I could go to a lawyer about this but I love my mom too much to want that.

I’m not even sure what to say to that. Her mom’s actions are almost unforgivable.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this story about a mother whose attitude ruined a sweet gift from her child.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

This person thinks she needs to talk to a lawyer.

Here’s another vote for contacting a lawyer.

This is good advice.

Here are some more good suggestions.

Her mom is not to be trusted, and she definitely doesn’t have her best interest at heart. Stealing from her daughter is awful, and not really even being sorry about it makes it even worse. It’s not her money. She doesn’t have the right to take it.

I wonder what she did with the money. Did she blow it on something frivolous? Does she have debt she needs to pay off? What on earth could prompt her to think there would be an scenario where it would be okay to take her daughter’s money?

If there were some scenario where she was in horrible financial trouble, she needed to talk to her daughter about it. It’s possible her daughter might’ve agreed to help, but it would also be okay if she didn’t.

She may not want to hire a lawyer, but that’s probably the only way her mom will understand how serious what she did really is.