Woman Refused to Pay for Half-Sister's College Tuitions

After her wealthy dad walked out on his family to marry his girlfriend, a young woman saw hope in her stepdad and half-sister. Years later, her birth dad reached out to her and begged for support.

Redditor throwawaycf14’s relationship with her biological dad remained rocky since she was five. He married another woman and left the Redditor’s mom to struggle alone. But the determined mother overcame the obstacles and eventually met her new partner.

The couple married and welcomed their daughter, Leah. The Original Poster (OP) embraced her new family and reckoned she would never hear from her biological dad again.

Though her biological father was financially well off, he never supported her. However, her mom and stepdad worked hard to stabilize her throughout. The OP explained:

“Despite not having a lot of money, my parents still had a small college fund for me, while my dad gave me no help at all.”

The OP was 25 when she married her partner. But before exchanging their wedding vows, she made it evident to him that she’d intended to support her sister Leah through college.

Since her husband was very close to her family, he was supportive. The OP managed to save a decent sum of money for her sister. She added:

“We only recently informed her of the money, and she and my parents were beyond thankful.”

Her biological dad contacted her three years before her engagement. It seemed like a healthy start to mend their relationship. However, it turned into a sour spat after he asked the OP to favor his daughter, Amy.

“My dad recently lost his job, and after several poor investments, he no longer has enough money to pay for Amy’s college,” the OP explained and added:

“He called me up and begged me to help her out. I told him I didn’t have the money.”

His family often called her up and pleaded to change her mind. The OP eventually lost her cool when they said her mother had tried to poison her against her father.

They called her selfish for not respecting Amy’s future. The OP knew she’d be of help but didn’t want to let her mom down after everything she’d been through. She explained:

“I do have the money I had saved for my parents’ retirement that I could give her. But I feel like my mom deserves that money after everything she did for me.”

She felt she could ask her husband to help Amy. However, she thought it would be unfair to take advantage of his generosity. She turned to social media to seek guidance on the matter.

After reading her post, several Redditors sided with the OP saying she needn’t blame herself for what happened. Some even suspected if her dad knew about her wealthy husband.

Some people asked the OP whether her dad helped her financially at least once.

User icandrinktea posted a similar question that read: “Is it easy to find out that your husband came from money? If it is, that may be why your bio dad reached out when he heard you were engaged.”

The OP said he might’ve rummaged through her brother-in-law’s social media posts as he often flaunts their lavish status. Redditor thesavvydog condemned the OP’s birth father, saying:

“His entitlement to anything from you, even on behalf of your half-sister, is INSANE. Also, it’s not your fault that he didn’t set aside money for her in a 529 or similar education savings account.”

Several users, like carelessbookowner, agreed with the person’s opinion in a comment that read: “You have no obligation to help his daughter when he didn’t do the same for you when you needed it, and he could afford it, especially if your relationship were non-existent when you were growing up.”

Some people asked the OP whether her dad helped her financially at least once. The OP claimed he’d spent around $3K towards her wedding but never financially supported her other than that.

Several users in the thread advised the OP to repay the $3K to her dad. Redditor surloc_dalnor’s statement read: “Give him 3k. Say you are square. Never talk to him again.” The OP later claimed that though she could’ve split the money she’d saved, she didn’t want to as it might seem unfair to Leah.

If you enjoyed reading this story, then you’d like this one about a brother who refused to give up a part of his college fund to help his sister’s child.