Her daughters, just eight and seven, carry the weight of this betrayal, their favorite shirts becoming symbols of loss. Faced with this cruelty, the mother’s fierce love ignites into action, determined to protect her children and reclaim their innocence. This is a story of resilience, love, and the quiet battles fought to keep a family whole.
I (30 F) my ex-husband (31m). Got divorced 5 yrs ago. During our divorce we owned a old single wide mobile home (1973). On a large piece of land that is zoned for a trailer park. He wanted the new truck and our savings.
I wanted the old trailer and the land.
My ex and I have 2 girls (8&7).
Since my divorce. I slowly started buying old single wides and restoring them. Turning it into a business. I love it.
My girls go to their dads and AP apartment every other weekend. I started noticing their clothes, electronics, toys were not coming home. At first I thought their dad was just keeping a few outfits there for them.
However, my 8 yr. old got upset when she was packing. I asked her what was wrong. She told me her dad takes her clothes and sells them on line. That she doesn’t want to take her favorite shirt over there.
I immediately called my ex. I asked him to return our daughters clothes. Not wanting to throw my daughter under the bus. I blamed it on them not having enough for school. He played dumb.
He said he got rid of the clothes that were too small. I pointed out that the jeans our (7 yr.) had were brand new. He then said that it was only fair he got some cash because he owned the trailer and land.
If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be doing this good.
I was pissed. I took my daughters down to the dollar store and bought cheap shirts. To a thrift store and bought cheap shorts. We had a “girls” tie dye night. Hot pink every thing. Each made 5 shirts and 5 bottoms.
I let our girls design and decorate them. My girls loved it.
The following week Ex sends the girls home. I could tell he is mad but, he didn’t say anything. The clothes were not returned. No fear I knew this would be a issue. We made extras. When the girls went back they were wearing tie dye.
They were with their dad for a hour before he called and demanded different clothes. I kindly told him that our daughters love those clothes (they really really love tie dye). Ex get even angrier and said his parents have a major family party and the girls can’t wear pink tie dye.
I told him that he should go buy other clothes if he didn’t want them to wear it. He called me an A for being petty. AITA?
Edited to add. Thank you so much for all the comments. Here are some things to clarify. 1) AP stands for Affair partner 2) owned is past tense. My ex is not on the land deed or the title to my trailer.
3) sadly this is a true story. I am sorry for those who don’t believe it. At the same time my heart goes out to those who shared your similar stories. Thank you for the love and support
Conclusion
The original poster is dealing with a significant conflict arising from her ex-husband taking and selling their daughters’ belongings, framing it as compensation for his perceived contribution to her current business success. This action directly violates the care and respect owed to their children’s property and emotional well-being, forcing the OP to prioritize her daughters’ feelings over maintaining an amicable co-parenting relationship.
Is the ex-husband justified in feeling entitled to monetary compensation from the OP’s business success in exchange for the daughters’ clothing, or does his unauthorized selling of the children’s property clearly cross a boundary that demands immediate restitution and stricter co-parenting agreements regarding personal possessions?
Here’s how people reacted:
The little girl once tearfully confided in me that her mom took a scissor to one batch of clothes because reasons? No explanation, not sure if she objected to the clothes in the bag specifically, was punishing the kid by destroying the clothes, or being spiteful toward my ex/his mom. So my ex made a special effort to send her back in what she arrived in. All hell broke loose after 3 months of no new clothes, despite her mom sending her in increasingly ill fitting and stained clothes. Nothing was legally actionable on either side so my ex resorted to buying all manner of new clothes that referenced him – Daddy’s Best Girl, Daddy’s Little Princess, etc and those are what he sent home.
Your ex is a complete troll and I would continue to tie dye and maybe mix in some extra personalization. Get a Cricut and add more embellishments to their clothes. Maybe their names, references to you “I have the world’s best mom” or whatever would really trigger him.
My son’s dad and his AP tried this when he was young. Wasn’t selling them, was just keeping any “new” clothing and returning him in old/dirty/outgrown stuff his AP’s kid used to wear and giving son’s stuff to AP’s kid. Told him that wouldn’t fly. What left this house comes back to this house with our son. His AP retaliated by dumping grape soda into my son’s overnight bag. So I took him to court. Judge ordered he had to keep clothing & toys at his house and what our son arrived with was what he returned with. And it had to be clean, unless the visit was less than a day trip. Anything missing/damaged, he had to reimburse me for.
As of recently he stole my nans inheritance, car crash money, and is attempting to steal my government trustfund x
Gotta love deadbeats ay x
Also he’s their parent, didn’t realize you were supposed to be 100% responsible for their clothing they have on. If he wants them to wear something different at his house, he can buy it
NTA.
Electronic receipts are your friend in this situation.
Your ex has no business (quite literally) selling the clothes off his children’s backs!!!
At a guess, most judges would take a dim view of your husband’s “sales activities”.
Also fabric markers. Puffy paint. You might have a whole set of new hobbies by the time your girls are teens.
Keep a record of what goes over there and back. As you can have the child support changed to show he is taking it back