A wedding should bring joy to a woman’s life. But sometimes conflicts, especially with mothers-in-law, can ruin the excitement. Recently, a Reddit user shared her struggles with her mother-in-law, looking for advice from the online community.
She wrote:
“This woman is unbelievable. I’m in shock and haven’t told my family or close friends. I found this place through Google, and I’ve seen great advice here, but nothing like my situation. I haven’t even told my fiancé yet because he’s away for work.
My mother-in-law doesn’t like me. She hasn’t said it, but it’s obvious. For example, my name is very short, just three letters, but she calls me by my fiancé’s exes’ names, which are much longer. She did this until my fiancé noticed and confronted her.
Her excuse? She’s ‘old.’ But she’s only in her early 50s. She’s so subtle and passive-aggressive that it sometimes takes me a while to understand what she really means.”
For context, I come from a middle-class family, while my fiancé’s family is very wealthy. At the surprise party my fiancé threw for me, his mom winked at me and said, ‘Your gift is coming later in the mail.’ I was shocked to see it was a prenup! No one in my family has ever had to sign a prenup.
I looked up some of the terms and sent some pages to my coworker, who’s married to a lawyer. He called me and said not to sign it, calling it “extremely aggressive.” There are things like ‘no spousal support in case of divorce’ and a strange infidelity penalty. The craziest part was about me having to spend time with my future mother-in-law and the rest of the in-laws.
She knows I received it because she’s called me 100 times since the mail arrived a few hours ago. I honestly don’t know what to say. I have no problem signing a prenup if my fiancé wants it, but I doubt he knows because he asked his mom what she got me, and she grinned and said, “You’ll see.”
But this prenup has been called ‘extremely unfair and dehumanizing’ by a lawyer. I know rich people often use prenups, but getting one from your future mother-in-law is weird, right? Or is it normal, and I’m overreacting? Now, my future mother-in-law sent me a message telling me to sign it so we can start wedding planning.”