Has anyone ever been bribed from your partners parent in order to break up? If so what happened?

No but my daughter's boyfriend's mother pressured him into breaking up with her. They lived just round the corner, and it was abundantly clear she didn't approve of him having a relationship because it meant she was no longer the centre of his attention. He was at ours all the time. I treated him as one of the family. He came everywhere with us. His mother never gave them lifts anywhere or collected them, it was always me (both older teens, not driving yet). She never invited my daughter to theirs but moaned about him being at ours all the time. The family went for outings and meals and never once invited her along. The mother then decided to move house. Only about eight miles away but obviously would have meant more lifts, or more sleepovers, as public transport is not practical here. Surprise surprise, the week before they moved, son broke up with my daughter, basically saying he still loved her but his mother had said it was destroying his relationship with her! Subsequently found out she had made him split with his last girlfriend for the same reason. I cannot fathom destroying your child's happiness just because your little boy isn't your little boy any more, and genuinely feel sorry for his future wife.

Not me but my buddy got offered 5k by his gf's dad to disappear, turned it down and married her anyway. They're divorced now so maybe should've taken the money lol The dad probably saw something coming that my friend was too blind to notice at the time

During my sister's wedding, my mother told me she'd gift me 10k if i never put the family through that level of bullshit again. i never married, but i have been settled down with the same partner for more than a decade. My partner is disabled and went through some mental health issues, and this is when my darling mother told me that unless i broke up with her, i could never count on her for help with anything. ever. anymore. my father passed of cancer a number of years back. he loved my partner, and he would be *horrified* by what my mother has done. so, here i sit without 10K (lol), unmarried, still with my partner, and drowning in debt. i....don't talk to my mother much anymore.

My parents offered me money to leave the guy I was dating. We will have 10 years this August and 2 children and couldn't be happier

I’d been with my now-husband for a couple years when he reconnected with his wealthy estranged dad. His dad slowly integrated back into his life, and eventually offered to pay for my husband’s education, as reparations for being a crappy absent father.  My husband enrolled in college, we uprooted our lives and moved to another city for it. Once he’d started his first semester, my FIL suddenly said “by the way, if you want me to keep paying your tuition, you need to break up with her.” We were shocked and confused, since there’d been no inciting incident or warning signs. When pressed for a reason, my FIL finally told him “she doesn’t make enough money.” … I was in my early 20s. We stayed together, my husband ended up paying for his own schooling, and it caused such a rift that they ultimately stopped talking again. We’ve been together 16 years now, we’re happily married and took great pleasure in knowing he was out there somewhere, seething on our wedding day lol. :)

Parents offered to pay off brothers credit card debt if he divorced his wife and moved home with their kid. The money they offered was the money my grandparents left him but my parents never released. They offered him his money to do what they want.

My father said he would pay me an appartment if i broke up with my GF we didn't broke up, in fact we have been together for 20+ years

The fact that someone's parent looked at you and decided a cash offer was the move is somehow both offensive and the biggest compliment you'll ever receive

Not me, but my ex told me how his cousin was studying at a university in Australia. The cousins dad (my ex’s uncle), bribed him to return to Saudi Arabia…and leave behind a pregnant girlfriend and the child that was about to be born. The guy got a house and a car when he got back to Saudi Arabia, all gifts from his dad for returning. The girlfriend was also studying at the same university and since she was pregnant, she may have decided to drop out…it must have been heartbreaking to be abandoned like that. Had a whole life planned, and then your significant other takes a trip back home and you can’t ever get a hold of him again. I still think about her sometimes.

My inlaws offered my husband a fat amount of money to not marry me. They never even met me at that point (LDR and just hadn't). We're going on 14 years this summer so it went just fine it seems lol. 

Happily took the bribe and left. I was anyways not enjoying much with him lol.

They offered a check to ' save' their child. I learned exactly how much my dignity cost

I was bribed by one of my own parents, if that counts. She said she'd help me buy a house if I dumped my girlfriend at the time. I persevered, and they helped me buy a house with the girlfriend who is now my fiancee.

Didn’t get bribed, but the pressure was subtle, constant “you’re not right for them” until it gets in your head and you walk away thinking it was your own decision.

I haven’t had it happen, but if a parent tried to pay me to leave, that would tell me a lot about the family I was potentially marrying into. At that point it’s almost less about the relationship and more about realizing the drama would never end. Huge red flag circus.

her dad said me $5,000 to walk away. I took it, paid off my credit card, then we got back together anyway. worst investment he ever made.

I'd been married about 4 yrs with 2 toddlers when my own mom whispered to me as we picked strawberries "I'd give you money to get a divorce--we just don't like him." I took her up on it immediately!

My grandma offered my dad $10,000 in 1979 to “disappear” from my mom’s life. In hindsight, I kinda agreed with her. My mom was 16 when she met my dad, who was 23, married and HER BOSS. After they got together, my mom turned down 2 very big opportunities in life: one was an invitation to join the LPGA tour, as she was a very good golfer and had won several championships. The other was college; she had been accepted into a school with a very good engineering program, which is what she said she always wanted to do because her dad was an engineer. She refused both because it meant moving away from my dad, who refused to move because of his job (he managed a Buger King) and his family. They got engaged on her 18th birthday. My grandma, who came from complete abject poverty during the Kansas Dustbowl era and had found herself at the mercy of men her entire life, thought mom was throwing her life away. So she offered my dad every bit of money she had in savings to make him “go away”. It backfired and my mom moved out of her house and in with my dad’s sister, since they weren’t married yet and his family was Catholic (never mind that she had already miscarried one of his children at this point but that’s besides the point). They got married 5 months later in the midst of Hurricane David. Granted, they were married for 35 years until my father died but I definitely feel like my mom could have had a more secure life. We had lots of financial insecurity and fighting but overall, my dad and mom loved each other. I’ve told my husband that if anyone were to ever make him the same offer, he better tell me about it so we can take the money and run off together.

Got offered to stay. Ex future mother in law offered to pay for the whole wedding, anything I wanted, ex future FIL offered a down payment on a house. Didn’t make up for the ex tho

Took the money as a joke relationship didn’t survive anyway.

Better yet, has anyone accepted the money and then just stayed?

this happened to a friend and honestly she took the money. the relationship was bad and she knew it, the parent just said the quiet part out loud. tbf she's happier now.

My dads parents tried doing that with him. They hated my mom(we have no idea why to this day). Jokes on them, as my folks celebrate 30 years in September.

My sister married into an alcoholic family. Her future FIL didn’t like her as she was smart and not much of a drinker. I met future BIL’s younger brother and we started dating ( I was 16/17). At their wedding FIL was drunk and came up to me and said, “I’ll give you a bottle of champagne if you break up with John.” I said, “make it 2 and it’s a deal.” We lasted about 6 months.

Not me, but my dad’s first wife was offered a new car if she would leave him. They were really young when they got married and had kinda jumped into marriage a little too quickly. She accepted the offer, they got divorced, and she died in a car accident less than a year later. Horribly sad, really.

No, but I learned after my husband and I were married that his parents called my parents and recommended that we not get married.  We've been married for over 30 years.  I'm glad my parents didn't tell me right away or do anything about it.  

No, the exact opposite in fact. I was offered a lucrative job to STAY with someone I had broken up with. We were both in our late 30s/early 40s. I had been married once and she had never been married. Her family was LOADED and I come from nothing. Her parents and I coincidentally work in the same industry but had never worked together before we met. Her parents adored me. I was getting ready to ask her best friend to go ring shopping with me. Then one night, when we were on the phone like usual, she told me, out of the blue, that we needed to break up. No real reason. And she went radio silent for about two weeks. Turns out she went to meet an old flame. Spent significant time with them. Ok. I can handle pretty much anything except being abandoned. Stems from my childhood. You leave, we’re done. We were done. She came back and begged me to get back together. I flatly refused. It wasn’t the cheating. It was the leaving. If she had left and not been with anyone — just had left and not contacted me for two weeks — the outcome would have been the same. She abandoned me. We were done. He mom called me and asked me to come over to the house. I accepted the invitation. I go over and we meet in her home office. She explains that her daughter, while a full grown woman, was emotionally a 15 year old. She didn’t know how devastating what she did was and she wouldn’t ever do it again. As a token of how serious she was, she offered me a position in the family firm that would turn into an equity position in a couple of years. It would include ownership in their building downtown. It would set me up for life. She urged me to think about it. I turned it down right there. I still think about it but I’m sure I did the right thing.

Took the money and moved far far away......with their daughter!

My story is a bit different… my ex’s mother and father would pressure me to get married to their daughter, even going so far as to offer me money for an engagement ring, and trying to buy me a new truck…. That all sounds great, but this was super early on in our relationship (think within first 3-6 months), and it got worse from them pushing and prodding as things started to get bad with my relationship with her.

I wasn’t good enough for him. So my dad offered me a new car to stay away from him. 4 months later we were married and the car was in my name. Dad eventually came around. We’ve now been married 39 years

thats some fucked up shit, parents who think their children lives are movies they get to be the director over are real pieces of shit

Actually, the OPPOSITE with my husband's ex. Her mother tried to bribe him to stay with her after they broke up....and they were 15. They were supposed to go on a cruise together, and there would be no refund of the ticket money, she told him. They’d been dating less than 6 months, btw, and this girl already had the names of BOTH their sons picked out (his name Jr and Michael Jackson Lastname. This was in the mid 2000s, well after everyone knew about the MJ accusations, btw. And they were both white, in case you're curious). Also, the Mom basically kidnapped my husband because he missed his bus, and offered to give him a ride home, but took him to their home instead to make these offers. Luckily, a fabulous trip with his ex was less enticing than me as 24 years later we're still together.

Not exactly - Ex collegue was seeing a girl and another guy was interested. The guys dad tried to pay her off, no deal - He then got one of her friends to "engineer" an incident which led to the falling out. Girls friend got a promotion 6 months later under a questionable interview process (2 of the 3 candidates suddenly had formal complaints put in against them on the day of the interviews (all led back to the guys father)) The girl moved in with the guy, got married.... Instigram Wife...Guy Instrigram Husband (despite some questionable activities with others both m & f ;-) ) - Lives an apparent happy life /s Ex collegue took years to recover (2014-2019), lock down alone during covid and is only now getting his life back.

My mother offered to buy me a house and fully furnish it, only if I left my partner and father of my child. We've been together 15 years now and I'm no contact with my mother.

No, but I did get threatened. My ex had owned a house before he bought one while we were dating which his then gf took in the break up. His mom wanted me to sign legal documents about the house or leave. He told her to back off. Then he did the same thing when we broke up. Like, both of you, I'm leaving. Leave me alone. You don't want me to speak to a lawyer because I could fight for the money I gave for my half of the mortgage. Just let me leave in peace.

My parents tried to bribe me not to marry my husband. They said it wasn't fair I was ruining his life. He could do so much better than you! We've been married, mostly happily, for 30 years. My parents live in a hoarder home being ignored by most of their family. I love when they're wrong.

Partners maternal grandmother threatened to keep his college fund for herself in his final year of school if he didn’t give his mom what she wants. His mom’s only desire was for him to leave me because “relationships come and go but your mother is always there”. It didn’t work out in her favour because he chose to go no contact with both of them. His grandmother was already a millionaire and I was hoping in the end she would’ve tried to bribe me with a lot of money so the two of us could get a house

A buddy of mine was offered a significant amount of money to break up with the father's daughter. He accepted the money as a handshake deal, it was transferred, and just never broke up with her. Then dared him to tell his daughter what he'd done. They're still together. I have no idea what that familial relationship is like.

Had a college g/f's dad offer me $3,000 USD to break up with his daughter because "she needs to focus on her studies" They were not supporting her. She was on a full-ride scholarship, with a living stipend. She was also a 3.8 GPA (out of 4.0) student. She graduated with Honors. Probably admitting more than I should...I came from a very privileged family. Money was never a struggle for me, my rent and tuition was paid for by my parents. I had a campus job, but my parents would always try to give me spending cash "to have fun in college, as you are supposed to". My mom & dad were very supporting in providing emotional and financial support (tuition was a nothing to my parents, both were physicians). I scoffed then laughed at the "measly" offer my g/f's Dad made. Even said that to his face. I told the Dad no, then told my then g/f about it. To say the least, she was not amused. She ended up not talking to her parents for almost a decade, even after we broke up.

My grandad was a drunkard and he was paid to divorce my Nan which he did. I met him twice before he died

Something like that happened to me. My girlfriend's dad offered her a new car if she broke up with me. Long story, short - she really enjoyed her shiny new car. 6 months later. She was the maid of honor in her cousin's wedding. I happened to be the best man. She had just wrecked that car and I was happy with my life without her. You could say she was a bit awkward with me during the wedding.

Not me and as far as I know, no bribes were involved but a friend of mine had her boyfriend’s mom basically tell her she could do better than her son. The guy was…. Ok. High school education, working in construction, happy with his life as it was and had no plans or ambitions to change anything. My friend was finishing up her engineering degree with honors and was being actively headhunted by recruiters. She’s also bilingual with duel citizenship, so half the world was available to her. Boyfriend didn’t even have a passport and didn’t see the need. His mom took a hard look at the situation and basically told my friend to go live the biggest life possible. If her son woke up and started trying to reach her level, great! If not, enjoy the memories and maybe send a holiday card. Friend figured that if his own mom didn’t think her son was a catch, then that was a big clue that she might be settling.

Not me but a friend had the opposite. His now wife’s family is wealthy. Her dad called him one day and said he noticed they weren’t going on a lot of dates. So he setup a ‘date fund’ for them. It was like $500 a month. Imagine being in college an suddenly having $500 a month just to wine and dine your girlfriend.

Not me, but my grandfather offer my cousin 50 grand to stop seeing her serious boyfriend (who was Persian.) She took the money and continued seeing him, and no one was the wiser until my aunt and cousin had a blow up like 6 months later and my aunt spilled the beans to my grandfather who was pissed. There's a reason we don't see that side of the family on holidays anymore.

her dad offered me $5,000 to leave. I was broke, 22, eating ramen for dinner. told him no. she dumped me two months later anyway. should've taken the money.

I was not bribed, but I truly knew I was not wanted.

If this had been offered to me id have told my (now) wife so that was could go through with it and keep money between us lol.

Not quite the same, but my brother was in a relationship with a guy from a rich family. They had to keep their relationship a secret from his parents because they were homophobic. The guy's parents were also paying for college to be a doctor. Somehow, the parents found out about their relationship and told their son to stop talking to my brother or they would stop paying for his education and cut him off completely. The guy ended things with my brother and never spoke to him again. He struggled with depression for a long time after that.

2 years ago my husband and his parents had a falling out. My husband worked for his parents and they started being “ unable” to make payroll, but only for his paychecks. The whole thing happened because my husband and I had decided to go No contact the year before with his alcoholic sister. This caused a big old rift and my in-laws were pissed off by it.  Fast forward 7 months into them not paying my husband consistently and a lot back wages still missing ( a bit more than 50k.) My mother in law told my husband that they would pay him all the back money owed,  as long as he agreed to a few conditions. One of which was that he had to divorce me…. At that point we had been together for 15 years,  3 children, a house, a business, retirement and investment accounts…. One might say we decided to commit to the whole marriage thing.  Along with the “ he has to divorce” me requirement, he  had to get me to sign a non disparagement agreement, a confidentiality agreement, and give his MOM full custody of our children. Why? because I had and stil have,, no problems telling people how SHITTY they are as human beings, and just how bat shit crazy they are as well. And yes they have always been financially abusive but never THIS blatantly. And while I knew my inlaws had never liked me, I never thought that they hated me THAT much. I learned after the fact that it’s because my sister in law and mother in law feel threatened by our marriage.  But alas here we are 2 years later still married, no contact with his parents. While we are struggling financially, and are still in the process of suing them for back wages… my husband and I are the happiest we have ever been. 

I haven’t experienced it personally, but I’ve heard of it happening usually it backfires and just makes the relationship stronger or exposes the parent as the real problem.

Nunca me ofereceram dinheiro… mas já recebi um “você merece alguém melhor” vindo da mãe dela. Na época achei que era elogio. Hoje tenho minhas dúvidas.

Her dad tried to 'bribe' me with a pristine, vintage 1980s mechanical keyboard and a promise to never ask me for tech support again if I just 'faded out' of her life. It was a tough 48 hours of soul-searching, but ultimately, I realized my girlfriend’s personality has better uptime than a 40-year-old PCB. I kept the girl, but I’m still thinking about that tactile feedback.

Not bribed, but one of my high school girlfriend's mom pulled me aside and told me that I was too good for her daughter, because she was 'stupid and ugly'. Which was pretty laughable because, while her mom was an absolute trash human being who looked the part and had the IQ of yogurt, my then girlfriend was a straight A student (we met in the nerd extra circulars) she was also very conventionally attractive. We did break up eventually but stayed friends. She went to school for civil engineering and got her MBA and now works as a VP for a fortune 500 company. Happily married and has been no contact with her mother since she went to school.

My Mum had a friend, Julie who had two kids with her husband Phil. Julie’s mother Claire made her an offer: that she would pay for the two kids to attend a fancy private school. One of the best in the state. But it was on the condition that Julie leave Phil. Julie took her up on it.

My great uncle offered my white mother a car if she wouldn't marry my tan-skinned father. I exist so it didn't work.

Not personally, but if my partner’s parents offered me money to disappear, I’d be way more worried about what they know than the money itself.

FIL offered to buy my (then) 16yr old husband a Playstation 3 in exchange for breaking up with his girlfriend at the time. He took the Playstation.

I’m still waiting for the opening bid. Is there a catalog, or do I just get a 'parting gift' and a firm handshake?

Not me, but my husband's aunt had TWO husbands divorce her because their family members gave them money/trucks to do so. Luckily, shes with a really awesome man now so turned out well for her long-term but DANG MAN.

No, but a woman I dated took me to a palm reader to passively break up with me since she could not do it herself. Soon as we pulled in the driveway I knew what was up. I just continued on the ploy to see how the palm reader would phrase it.

My FIL offered me 10k to walk away when I sought his blessing to marry my wife. Been married 17 years now. He later told me he was just trying to see if I really loved her or not.

Wow, that’s wild ive never been offered money to break up, but if someone tried that with me, it would’ve been an instant “no way” and a hard boundary set immediately. Some things you just don’t negotiate.

Makes me wonder if there are people with the opposite issue. The parents tried bribing them to stay with their partner.

Not me, but my late husband. This was back in the late 70’s. His reputation in the small town where everyone lived was sketch, at best. Keeping in mind, however, during this period of time in the Midwest is was still common for parents to go to the bar and leave their kids outside in a running vehicle with a pack of chips and a soda. For hours. The ‘good parenting’ bar was low. Her parents had money from farming and offered him $10K to walk away. That was quite a bit of cash considering the average yearly income was @ $15K. As I was told, he turned them down and words were exchanged. They went on to get married, have 2 kids, and move west. When we met they’d been divorced for more than a decade, and to my knowledge the relationship with her folks never did improve by much.

Never been bribed, but I did have a friend whose girlfriend’s parents basically tried the “soft version” of it. They didn’t offer money straight up, but they kept hinting at helping him financially if he “focused on his future” and stepped away from the relationship. He stayed with her anyway, and it made things super awkward for a while.

Not exactly a bribe, but my mother repeatedly asked my closest friend to “open my eyes” about my (now) husband. Before him, my first and only relationship was with a man ten years older than me (I was 17, he was 27), and unsurprisingly, it didn’t end well. My husband was a bit abrasive at first too, but at least he wasn’t a groomer—we’re only a year apart. Still, I think my mother was afraid of seeing me go through another difficult situation. So she started a sort of campaign, asking all my friends to help me get out of the relationship whenever they were around me—without my knowledge. I only found out about this recently, about two years ago, after 13 year of dating. Now my mother and my husband actually have an ok relationship. He has mellowed out over the years, and she’s seen how much I’ve improved mentally and as a person since being with him. She would still love to have her 30-year-old married daughter living back at home, but that’s another story.

My boyfriend's father tried to bribe me to stay with him by paying my mortgage for the next 3 years. When I said no, he realized exactly how sick his son was and how bad things were.

That sounds like a really difficult and intense situation to deal with.

I had no idea this happens irl

If you take the money to leave, were you ever really in love at all? Or did the parent just help you find out that your price was lower than your feelings?

Wow, I did not even know people would do this. Society is amazing lol

One of my friends' parents offered to buy her a car and pay her rent if she broke up with her boyfriend. She didn't take it. From what I remember she went no contact with her parents like a year after that, and she and the same guy have been married for something like 20 years now. They're both really nice people. The parents, not so much. Although I think she started talking to her parents again after she moved to the other side of the country.

That sounds like something out of a movie, but it probably happens more often than people think

The offer itself It’s often framed indirectly like we’ll help you out financially if you move on or this relationship isn’t good for either of you. Sometimes it’s blunt, but often it’s dressed up as concern.

LOL! Your partner's parents are telling you to your face that they don't like you, that they can't stand you.

ngl this sounds like a movie plot, i genuinely didn't know this actually happened to real people

The exact opposite thing happened to me actually. My partners family tried to bribe me to marry him. I turned it down because their money had no place in our relationship and I never wanted him to have any doubts about why we were together. Coming up on 3 years married with 2 kids and I've never regretted that decision for a moment.