My MIL has neglected her son his whole life. He spent years fighting for her love—in vain. The best gifts? Always for his sister, Lisa. Love and attention? Lisa. Support? Lisa.
Hard times hit us: while we were saving up for a house, we had nowhere to live. She still didn’t even try to help.
But then, out of nowhere, she drove us to this old shabby house—her late father’s—and GAVE IT TO US! As a gift! We were over the moon!
Every penny we had went into fixing it up—67 THOUSAND DOLLARS and months of work. But we did it! The house was beautiful, fully renovated. We threw a housewarming party, inviting our family.
That’s when my MIL pulled me aside and dropped a bomb: “So, Lisa’s pregnant! I want to give this house to her. Legally, it’s still mine, so you have ONE WEEK TO MOVE OUT! Otherwise, I’ll come with the cops.”
We were furious! But legally, there was nothing we could do. So, we packed up and went back to my parents’ house. That’s when the REAL FUN AND KARMA began!
Fifteen minutes after we left, my MIL came storming in, fuming like a crazy, yelling: “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!”
Turns out, we hadn’t left the house in the pristine condition she expected.
We took EVERYTHING that belonged to us. The brand-new appliances? Ours. Light fixtures? We bought those—gone. The gorgeous new countertops? We installed those—removed. The hardwood floors? We paid for them—ripped out. Even the toilet seats? Taken.
MIL stood in the middle of a gutted, empty shell of a house, her face red with rage. She shrieked about how we “ruined” Lisa’s home.
“No,” my husband said calmly, arms crossed. “We just took what was ours. You gave us an abandoned house. We gave it back.”
Lisa, heavily pregnant, waddled in behind her, took one look at the disaster, and burst into tears. “Mom! What the hell?! You promised me a house!”
MIL turned to us, furious. “You have to fix this! This is practically theft!”
“Actually,” I said, pulling out receipts, “everything we removed was paid for by us. You want it back? Reimburse us.”
MIL paled. “You spent sixty-seven thousand dollars?!”
“Every penny. We have the receipts. If you want to take this to court, we can.”
She blustered, huffed, and puffed, but in the end, she knew she was defeated. She had no choice but to admit she’d screwed us over and was left with a shell of a house instead of the dream home she thought she could steal.
And then karma really hit.
A week later, we got a call from Lisa, begging for help. MIL had no money to renovate the house again, and Lisa and her boyfriend couldn’t afford to fix the damage. On top of that, MIL had burned so many bridges with the family that no one wanted to help her.
Meanwhile, my husband and I had found a beautiful rental and were back on track with our savings. My parents, bless them, had offered to cover our legal fees if MIL ever tried anything again.
MIL tried guilt-tripping my husband into giving her money to fix the house. “Come on, it’s for Lisa and your future niece!”
His response? “You made your choice. Live with it.”
And boy, did she have to. The house sat in its broken state for months before MIL was forced to sell it at a huge loss. The buyer? A flipper, who got it dirt cheap, fixed it up in six weeks, and sold it for triple the price.
Meanwhile, we continued saving and eventually bought our own home. A real home, with our names on the deed.
Moral of the story? Greed gets you nowhere. And never, EVER renovate a house that isn’t legally yours.
What do you think? Ever had a crazy in-law pull something like this? Share your story in the comments!
