Spouse Annoyed by Father-in-Law's Inheritance Remark at New House Blasted

A woman annoyed by her father-in-law's comment about their new home purchase has been slammed by users on Mumsnet, the U.K.-based online forum.

In a post shared on Mumsnet's Am I Being Unreasonable (AIBU) subforum under the username GoGoNads, the woman said she and her husband recently secured a mortgage on a house using the "significant deposit" they had saved.

They also used some of the inheritance her husband received from his late mother to "benefit from a lower LTV [loan-to-value, which is the ratio of mortgage to property value].

During a recent visit to their new house, the user's father-in-law allegedly said: "I'm so delighted we were able to contribute so much towards it," referencing her husband's inheritance.

"If FIL [father-in-law] brings it up again, would it be unreasonable of me to do a 'whatever do you mean, FIL? Do you mean the money MIL [mother-in-law] inherited and then passed to DH [dear husband]?'"

An April 2017 study published in the Families, Relationships and Societies journal, which looked at inheritance and family conflict, stated that "asset transfers are of increasing importance for families as a way of transmitting advantages over generations."

However, "compared to the positive impact,...little is known about how inheritance generates disputes, tensions or dissatisfaction among family members, and how law, policy and practice play a role in this process," the study noted.

The study demonstrated that "family relations rest on a delicate balance of autonomy and dependency in families."

A March 2010 study published in the European Journal of Ageing concluded that: "Motivations for giving and receiving an inheritance range from altruism to egoism translating the family organisation: from trust to control; from the family to the individual; from within the family to out of the family (involving professionals)."

The user in the latest Mumsnet post said her mother-in-law "was massively financially independent before she met FIL" and though they were married, the couple "always kept finances totally separate."

The original poster said her father-in-law is a "nice enough man" but claimed "he's quite overbearing and DH [her dear husband] tends to just let him prattle away, unchallenged."

The father-in-law allegedly "thinks that the world revolves around him and so I'm sure he's been telling family and neighbors about 'helping' us out," the user said.

In a later comment, the user said her father-in-law allegedly didn't know what was in her mother-in-law's will. "Like DH, he only knew once the will was read. Once she died, FIL didn't even know if there was a will and had to contact her solicitor. Their money was 100 percent separate."

The latest post sparked debate among Mumsnet users, with many saying they "don't see anything wrong" with the father-in-law's comment and that the original poster is being "petty."

User thebear1 said: "You are being petty, they were married so she could have left it all to FIL. What good would come out of the conversation you want to have? Other than putting him in his place. Who would benefit from that?"

Butterfly44 wrote: "I don't see anything wrong with the comment. They were married for years, what's yours is mine etc. Many married people have joint finances."

Gazelda said: "I don't understand why this irks you. Is it because you are proud that you and DH saved a good deposit, and you don't want to be seen has having lucked out by marrying someone with a good inheritance?"

Quitelikeit said: "I think you view this man with contempt. It's got nothing, NOTHING to do with you how MiL came into her money...that money was theirs, they were married and you are indeed lucky that you were given something. They could have easily waited until FiL had passed."

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of this case.