Mom Praised for Refusing to Pay $700 for Shoes Son 'Destroyed'

A mom has been praised for refusing to pay $700 to replace a pair of shoes that her son "destroyed."

The divorced mother of two, u/IDidntChooseMomLife, took to Reddit's popular r/AmITheA****** forum to ask if she was in the wrong for refusing to pay the bill for the expensive footwear.

"I have custody of my kids for the majority of the year due to the fact that their father travels for work but when he's in town it's not uncommon for him to want to spend the week with them," she explained. "My kids were at their father's for the week last week and when they came back my 17-year-old son brought me a receipt for a pair of $700 shoes that he needed to pay for."

Obviously confused, the mom asked the son what the receipt was for. He explained that while at school he had accidentally stepped on another kids' shoes.

"My kid's shoes were muddy from being outside and apparently the mud caused so much damage to these expensive shoes that they need to be replaced," she said. "I called my ex to get some further clarification and he told me that it was our job as parents to set a good example to our kids, and show that we fix things when we make mistakes, which is why he told this kid's mom that I would pay for a new pair of shoes."

Her ex-husband reasoned that she should be the one to pay for the shoes because he paid enough child-support already. But the mom stuck to her guns.

"I ended up calling the mother of this kid to try and talk to her to explain that I had not agreed to pay for these shoes which caused her to get very upset with me over the phone because my ex had told her that we would cover the shoes," she explained. "At this point, I was pretty frustrated and told her that if her son was so worried about his shoes he shouldn't wear them to school. I told her this was all just a mistake that happened but that I wouldn't be paying for a new set of shoes."

The other mom, furious, even threatened to "seek legal counsel" if the shoes were not replaced, but the poster said: "I've decided to stick to my guns on this."

'Parents Need to Work Together'

Arthur D. Ettinger, chair of the Matrimonial & Family Law Department of Salzano Ettinger Lampert & Wilson LLP told Newsweek: "While a portion of child support payments is meant to cover expenses such as clothing, there are often many other expenses which are not explicitly covered by agreements or even court orders. For example, if a child needs a new laptop or a special pair of sneakers—these incidental expenses may not be covered by the agreement. In these instances, parents need to work together to agree on and resolve these types of items."

This is far from the first time a monetary issue between co-parents has become a viral conversation online. Recently one dad was slammed for expecting his stepchild to split his father's inheritance with his child.

But another dad was backed online for refusing to pay child support to his ex-wife so she could save money for her other children.

In more than 1.3k comments, Reddit users overwhelmingly praised the mom for refusing to pay for the shoes.

"Your ex is an a******. Regardless of how much child support he pays, he doesn't get to obligate you to pay for something," said one commenter who added: "What kind of idiot sends a child to school in $700 shoes? Why does a child even own $700 shoes? How are these shoes possibly worth $700?"

Another commenter said: "Your ex sounds like an a******. He has no right to speak for you and say that [you] would pay for the shoes. He can pay for them if he's so concerned about it."

"Your ex made the agreement, and the accident happened on his time. Your ex should absolutely pay for the shoes, because he said he would," said another Redditor. "It's not his place to enter financial commitments on your behalf."

"White It may be a nice gesture if the mother offered to pay for a portion, or all, of the cost of the sneakers, she has no obligation to do so, especially when her ex is the one that unilaterally made the decision to 'reimburse' the other parent first consulting her," said Ettinger. "The father made a decision on his own and thus should be responsible for the financial commitment that he made on his own."

Newsweek has reached out to u/IDidntChooseMomLife for comment. We weren't able to verify the details of this case.

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