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A lot of people like to say family helps family, and that’s great if you’re on good terms with your family. What happens if you have a falling out?

In this story, one man was happy to help his in-laws with a home renovation project. He did all the work for free and only wanted them to pay him back for the supplies he bought for the project. Everything was fine until they got into a huge argument. After that, they stopped paying him back.

Now, he’s wondering if it’s worth it to take them to small claims court to get the rest of his money back.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AIO – In Laws (parents) refusing to pay me back for bathroom renovation

Long story short, my wife’s parents asked me to renovate the master bathroom of a second house they own.

I agreed. I began renovating their bathroom and paid for materials myself through my credit card.

At first it was no big deal because I kept all the receipts and they reimbursed me as I continued the work.

But then they had a falling out.

Near the end of the project my wife and I had huge argument with them, not related to the bathroom project, which ended in us moving out of their house and eventually buying our own house.

The bathroom was about 90% of the way done and I was left with a little over $1000 of unpaid reimbursements.

Its been nearly three months and they have yet to pay me back after I had requested it multiple times.

I am now considering filing a small claims suit against them to recoup my money.

Here’s some more context about the project.

A few things to keep in mind during all of this.

– I was not being paid (labor) for any the work, of which I agreed to seeing as they were family.

– We lived in their house basically for free during this time. We helped pay for groceries and water/electric bill.

– I personally had to buy tools for the renovation project to do some of the work. I did not charge my in laws for these tools since I kept them afterwards, but its money spent on tools that I otherwise never would have spent.

He wasn’t renovating the home he was living in.

– The renovation project was located in another city about 1.5 hours away.

I spent every weekend available to me doing this work FOR FREE. I never charged them for the gas or food expenses I accrued traveling each weekend.

So after reading all this, am I overreacting thinking I should sue my in laws for $1000 of non-reimbursed receipts?

Honestly, I’d probably just let it go, especially depending on what the disagreement is about. It might be better just to move on with life without the drama. But, if they’re short on cash and that money could help them out, then it’s worth trying to get the money back.

Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

This person suggests letting it go and moving on with life.

Another person thinks he needs to talk to this wife about her parents.

This person doesn’t think he should sue.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a single person who is dumbfounded when her friends insist couples count as one person when splitting a check.

Nobody seems to think it’s worth suing the in-laws.

It really is a small price to pay to move on with life. Especially since they lived with the in-laws without paying rent, they still came out ahead even though they’ll probably never get the $1000 back.

I’m really curious what the falling out was about though, and did he just leave the project unfinished?