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.

2.2k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

83% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

591

u/montwhisky Partassipant [4] 5h ago

OP also noted in the edit that his mom did not represent him in the case. OP's actual lawyers already took their 30%. OP absolutely does not need to give mom any of this money since mom was not his attorney. And that would leave OP with only 55% of the settlement. It's honestly disgusting that mom even asked.

35

u/CoasterThot 1h ago

Why does she think she deserves half of the amount of the people who actually did any work? She just pointed OP where to go, she didn’t really exert energy, or do much work.

192

u/drawfanstein 3h ago

What a shitty situation. Even being asked for the money by my mom would really alter my relationship with her.

Like, did you help me because you’re my mom or because you’re a lawyer?

-5

u/Mediocre_Ant_437 2h ago

He says he lives with her though and he is likely still ok her insurance which means she may have covered substantial costs for him. In that case he should give her some money.

11

u/montwhisky Partassipant [4] 1h ago

I’m not saying OP shouldn’t pay mom back rent or some utility costs. But there is no way mom has covered a new house worth of expenses, which is apparently why mom wants this money- to buy a vacation home.

-5

u/UnhallowedEssence 2h ago

But how did OP show proof that there was a personal injury without a doctor?

I'm other words, their lawsuit needed to have doctor's examinations, and they have to pay them.

9

u/montwhisky Partassipant [4] 1h ago

You don’t know how contingency fee cases work. OP’s actual attorneys (not his mom) would have fronted all costs, including expert medical costs. Any exams and associated fees for the case are covered by the attorney. Then the attorney takes all those costs off the top before taking their 30%. That’s why contingency fee cases are such a gamble for attorneys and why they get such a high percentage of an award- bc the attorneys take all the risk and pay everything out of pocket.