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A dad says he’s honouring his late wife’s wishes by keeping aside her money for their children. But his current wife doesn’t agree with the arrangement, and believes all of their children should benefit.

The dad says he lost his first wife while their children were young and while they had joint finances as a couple, his wife also had money that was hers.

“Anything that was her separate finances is being saved for our children,” he explained.

“Where the question of this comes in is I have remarried and I have a stepchild and another biological child with my present wife. She was always aware that I consider this money for the children I had with my late wife only.

“But recently she feels it’s unfair because they have money set aside for the future that will at least help get them started after they turn 18 while we sometimes had to make sacrifices due to inflation, etc.”

“The latest thing was my stepdaughter wanted to join these dance classes that would help in her dream of professional dancing. We could not afford those specific dance classes. My wife was upset. She wanted to do this so badly for my stepdaughter. And for those who’ll ask, the bio father is not in the picture and has not been found so he can pay child support and yes, he was searched for on more than one occasion but my wife has no idea where her ex is.”

The man says his wife thinks they should be using the money now to make their lives easier, instead of just for two kids in the future.

“I told her my late wife wanted this for them and I believe the money should be spent on my children with my late wife anyway. I told her we still had a good life. We just didn’t have all the luxuries. And like a lot of families we struggled when inflation hit but we were still doing good.”

His wife offered an alternative plan – paying for extra curricular’s for all four kids out of his late wife’s money and then save it up again.

“I said no. She told me I’m acting like my late wife had left a will with instructions, which she didn’t, and she also accused me of treating my stepdaughter and my youngest child like they are less deserving. I said the money is not mine. It was my late wife’s and it will be our children’s and that my wife should stop treating it as anything else.

“She told me I’m being very unreasonable.”

Do you think this dad is doing the right thing? Let us know in the comments below. 

  • What the husband is doing is the right thing. The late wife’s money should be saved for her own kids. Hope he doesn’t budget. She should be responsible for the fees of her daughter from her previous marriage, so wrong for her to expect him to use the money the late wife has set aside. She probably saved hard for it so that her kids have a head start in the future so why should her kids have to suffer because his current wife hasn’t saved enough to support her own child from her previous relationship.

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  • I don’t think the wife deserves a cent. The mums passed and funds should go to her kids. It’s the right thing to do.

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  • That money should have gone into bank accounts for her children as soon as she passed. While I can understand the new wife wanting what’s best for her children as well, that money is no more hers than the next door neighbours money would be and she has no rights to it at all.

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  • All what he is doing is respecting the wishes of his late wife and her money and anything that was her separate finances is being saved for their children. This is not his money but it was hers and she allocated it to their 2 children. His current wife should accept this and/or try to set money aside for the stephdaughter and younger child

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  • She’s trying to look out for her kids – which is fair enough – but I think the Dad is doing the right thing by keeping the money set aside for the older kids only.

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  • I can definitely see where the new wife is coming from, knowing that the money is there. But this is something his late wife wanted, as he said, the money is not his its for the first 2 children.

    Has the new wife made any sacrifices to ensure they can afford the dance classes like giving up take away coffee etc.? Because if she is not prepared to make those sacrifices now, how can she say that they could use the money now and pay it back later? Pay it back with what?

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  • Absolutely agreed with some of the most upvoted answers, that the money should go into a trust for the two children for when they reach adulthood. I always hate reading these. The two kids will go through life with a huge void, not having a biological mother, something that the other children have. To possibly ruin the relationship with those kids for dance lessons? Unhinged and entitled behaviour.

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  • His late wife made it clear what she wanted. Sadly though she should have had a Will…..we all should have Wills and clearly state what we wish to happen. Do not depend on word of mouth. Put it in writing and make it legal to avoid this sort of drama.


    • I agree; a current and valid will is so essential and can lessen angst in families.



      • Wills are so important these days as people can agree to anything but in the end once you have passed it is up to them if it is not in writing. It is good to see the dad keep his promise for his kids and do what the kids mum asked of him.

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  • The dad is doing the right thing and his current wife should respect is late wife’s wishes and stop gashlighting him


    • Also it was his late wife’s money, not even his

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  • Acting with integrity and keeping the money for the children displays respect for his former wife and their children. It is important to act with integrity and honour.


    • I agree with you on this one. The new wife should be more respectful of his decision he agreed on with his late wife.

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  • He is honouring the wishes of his late wife regarding their children, and should continue to do so.

    His current wife married this man with the full knowledge of the wishes of his late wife for their children,, and she agreed at the time.

    It would be “unfair” of his current wife to expect him to start using what is effectively his late wife’s money, for anything other than her wishes.

    i agree that if his current wife still has problems with that, some counselling may be useful.

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  • Wow ! Red flag alert ! Your current wife understands that you are honouring your first wife – but possibly feels jealous that you are not putting her own wishes above your deceased wife’s.
    I think it shows that you have integrity and that you should be valued more for that, not harassed . Perhaps see a counsellor so she can have an impartial party explain this is a good thing; and that she needs to adjust her wants (not needs) to suit your means.

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  • Yes, he’s doing the right thing. HIs late wife would definitely have wanted to leave the money to her children, not people she didn’t know.

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  • I think your current wife should honor your late wifes wishes. It’s very unfair that the money go to them and it should only be for the children who it was intended for, her own.

    Reply

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