Internet Slams Man Trying To Spend Dead Wife's Money on His Stepchildren

The internet has condemned a man who tried to use his children to get money out of the account their late mother—set up for their future before she died of cancer.

In a post shared on Reddit, the woman's sibling, who goes by the username Affectionate_Wait385, explained that their sister died 11 years ago leaving two little children, who at the time were just three and four years old.

Before dying she left them a significant amount of money, as she "wanted them to have something real that could be there for them when she couldn't be," so she set up an account and left her sibling in charge of it.

The sister's ex-husband remarried two years after her death, adding five new children to the family, and lately has been struggling financially.

When the woman died, she also left her then husband a letter, where she explained about the money for the kids, but it appears that he actually never read it.

"He didn't know about the money until he actually read the letter my sister left for him which informed him of the existence of the money. Ever since he learned of it 18 months ago he has been determined to get his hands on it," the post read.

Since he learned about the money, he also also tried to use the kids in order to dip in, unsuccessfully, and he's accused his late wife ... of being selfish "to keep the money from his reach so he couldn't use it on all his kids."

The post, which was first shared on the r/AmITheA**hole subreddit on Tuesday has attracted a lot of attention, reaching 6,572 upvotes and 776 comments in less than 24 hours.

According to 2022 figures from Statista, about 11.61 percent of women in America are currently widowed, and 3.58 percent of men.

All users seemingly sided with the poster and slammed the ex-husband for trying to take his children's money away from them. One user, felice60 said: "[Not The A**hole]. His children with another woman have no right to that money under any theory I can formulate."

Sorryimbooked12 commented: "What's worse is why should the woman who passed away have left money for his future wife's kids? Biologically they aren't his kids so it's more why should another women's kids have any right to the kid's money?"

Another user, CuriousTsukihime pointed out: "I suspect OP's sister might've seen this coming, which is why she left the handling of the money in her brother's hands. [Not The A**hole]."

And bellamia0223 added: "You are ABSOLUTELY right!! Something was going on and she knew what he would do. She took ALL the steps to make sure it didn't. Which is sad that in her final time she had to do that because she already knew what he would do."

Other users were worried about the kid's money. AstariaEriol said: "Hopefully it's in one or two irrevocable trusts."

And The-Aforementioned-W commented: "Even if it's not, the money is in no way tied to BIL, so he couldn't touch it. OP is the administrator from what it sounds like, and has control over the money until the kids reach the stipulated age. So BIL can stomp his feet and throw all the tantrums he wants, but he can't legally get to that money, if I'm reading this correctly. (N.B. I do have a law degree, but am not a wills & trusts lawyer.)"

Another user, Visible_Attitude_177 pointed out: "No, it's worse than that. Sister died 11 YEARS ago! He didn't read the letter for 11 years!"

Krazzy4u said: "And screw him for bringing your sister's kids into this and trying to bully them into giving up the majority of "their" money. You are obligated by law to protect that money for its original purpose."

Phoenix612 added: "[Not The A**hole]. I'm gobsmacked he thinks her inheritance should go to children that aren't hers."

And biscuitboi967 wrote: "[Not The A**hole] and I'm SO SORRY that as she prepared for her death, she knew her husband wouldn't be responsible with her kids' money and had to take steps to protect it. It was smarty and necessary (so thank God she took the time while she was able) but how extra upsetting it must have been to not trust your spouse to do right by the kids you were leaving with him."