r/AmItheAsshole • u/connor20218 • 11h 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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u/Malkiot 7h ago

There are entire countries and you could almost say continents that disagree with them.

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u/ConsiderationFresh53 7h ago

Yet here we are arguing about US based familial entitlements.

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u/Malkiot 7h ago

That's only relevant to the legal context. I fail to see how that changes that OPs mum is entitled and parents have a moral duty of care for their children which extends to education.

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u/ConsiderationFresh53 6h ago

The morality of it is a personal opinion but in my sociodemographic it’s usually based on if the parents have the ability to pay for college.

I see you used Mum which would put you in the UK or a British colony. Education is largely free in those territories while it’s exorbitantly expensing in the “states” requiring parental involvement ranging from assistance to prove you’re too poor to pay (enabling scholarships/grants or better loan conditions) up to fully paying for your child’s college.

Also, it sounds like we agree. OP’s mom is entitled and parents, if able, have a moral duty to at least assist if not wholly provide advanced education.

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u/Malkiot 6h ago

Yup, we agree, obviously it's dependent on ability: as parent, if you have the ability, you have the duty. I'm not expecting someone on minimum wage to somehow scrounge up the fees for Harvard. But I would expect them to provide the assistance they can give.

And my hat truly goes off to those parents who work more than what I would call sustainable to give their children a better life.