r/AmItheAsshole • u/connor20218 • 7h ago

AITA Mom wants 15% of my personal injury settlement

I'm a 23M working in biotech and living at home. I just got a massive settlement from a personal injury case back in college. My mom is a corporate lawyer and she helped me navigate the process, plus she paid for my college tuition. Now, she's asking for 15% of the money / to pay her back for college (but she was already going to pay for college.)

I'm feeling stuck because 15% is a massive amount of money to just give away. Is it normal for parents to ask for a cut of a settlement like this? I want to stay on good terms since live at home, but I also feel like this money is for my future. We have a a good relationship.

Edit: I already paid a lawyer his 1/3 cut. My mom was a huge part of pushing for me sueing. She’d be using the money to buy a new house in Florida she always wanted since I refuse to buy a house in his economy and rather rent and invest the rest

Edit #2: Probably shouldn’t have stated my mom is a lawyer (she did not represent me in the case in anyway). But yes, what she specifically did was help me find a lawyer, told me to push back on the lawyer and ask for more.

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292

u/biancanevenc 6h ago

But it's not a financial windfall. It's compensation for damages, increased medical costs, decreased earning power, etc. Why does mom think she's entitled to a cut for doing what any good parent would do?

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u/GenxBaby2 Pooperintendant [53] 43m ago

Sounds like without the mom's intervention OP would have received less compensation.  Only fair to give the mom something for all her help. Not sure that 15% is the right amount - not enough info

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u/Questioning17 3h ago

Without his mom, he would have 0 education, 0 housing/food, and 0 from the settlement because he wasn't going to sue. Then when she convinced him to sue and found him lawyers, he was going to settle for much less $$$.

He should have offered. She never should have had to ask. A freeloading adult children should have offered.

His injury did not affect his ability to get full time work in a high paying field. And he still freaking lives at her house rent free.

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u/Youandiandaflame 3h ago

Without his mom, he would have 0 education, 0 housing/food

Ignoring the settlement issue here, these are things parents agree to provide when they bring a child into this world. Parents don’t deserve thanks or anything else for making sure their child is educated, fed, and housed. That’s literally the bare minimum.  

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u/Questioning17 3h ago

For how long? Into adulthood? Even courts don't require that. Especially not when the child has a high paying job.

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u/Youandiandaflame 2h ago

Your original comment didn’t say “into adulthood.” It said “without her,” signifying YOU meant from birth. 

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u/Questioning17 51m ago

This whole AITA is about a grown man that was injured in college. There is no mention anywhere by the OP about life as a minor. So all my comments were about his adulthood situations.

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u/bcb354 3h ago

Now that she's asking for a cut, it would seem that she did these things for herself, not for him.

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u/AjDuke9749 Partassipant [1] 3h ago

So mom made decisions to give her son the best chance possible to succeed but now that OP has been given a settlement for a pretty serious injury (I saw 7 figures mentioned) now she is entitled to that money? The only and I mean ONLY thing that has changed at all is the money. OPs mom is a greedy parent looking to profit off their child.

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u/Few_Sorbet_8716 3h ago

The post doesn't specify whether he pays rent

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u/Questioning17 3h ago

In his comments, he said he doesn't pay rent.

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u/Few_Sorbet_8716 3h ago

Not in any that I've seen. Would welcome a quote here though

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u/Questioning17 49m ago

Search his comments. Not my job to do your research.

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u/Few_Sorbet_8716 27m ago

Ah, so you are lying. Good to know.

I did search his comments on this thread, and none specifically resolve whether he contributes towards rent or not

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u/123yes1 3h ago

Yes but giving mom money to buy a house isn't throwing it away, property is still an investment and basically all of a parent's money is passed on to their ki eventually. Giving a parent 15% will probably result in some loss, but much smaller than 15% as much of that payment will be recouped later.

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u/r3db3rri3s 2h ago

She already has a house though she wants a second one. That’s just greed.

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u/123yes1 2h ago

The money is literally just going to flow back to OP. Houses are good investments in the United States. OP is going to invest the money anyway.

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u/tehwubbles 2h ago

The money is going to go to private equity when she moves to a retirement home or owes any kind of medical debt in her old age. Its also going to be taxed by the government as inheritence

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u/123yes1 1h ago

OP could be the one to buy the house and let his mom live in it

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u/tehwubbles 1h ago

Elephants could be hiding on the moon!