I Refuse to Send My Parents Money Every Month Just Because They Paid for My College

After refusing to support his parents financially, he uncovers a betrayal no child should ever face. Family loyalty, money, and manipulation collide in this story. What started as saying “no” became a nightmare that raises one question: Did the parents cross the line, or should he have paid up after everything they did for him?

Here is everything George told us

Dear Bright Side,

I’m the oldest of 4. My parents paid for my college, but were broke by the time my siblings went. Now my parents expect monthly support. “We invested in you!” Mom yelled. My siblings also forced me, saying, “We have our own loans.” I refused. Today, I went cold when the lawyer called, and my parents had transferred all their debts into my name using a power of attorney I signed years ago when I bought my first car.

They needed a co-signer, they said. Now I owe $200,000 in their debts, and my credit is destroyed. I was so angry, I called them and said things I can’t take back. Now my siblings won’t talk to me, and I keep thinking about all the sacrifices they made when I was young. Did I go too far? What should I do?

— George

George, thanks for sharing something so personal and complicated with us. It might feel like you’re the only one caught in this kind of family financial mess, but honestly, these situations happen more often than you’d expect; you’re far from alone. We’ve pulled together some suggestions that could help guide you through this, but at the end of the day, only you can decide what’s right for your situation.

• Get that power of attorney document immediately. Stop panicking and pull the actual paperwork you signed. If your parents exceeded what you authorized, that’s straight-up fraud. But you need to see what you actually signed before assuming anything.
• Your siblings aren’t the enemy; they’re just broke and scared. They’re drowning in loans while you got free college, so yeah, they’re siding with mom and dad. But they probably don’t know about the debt transfer fraud. Once they realize what actually happened, they might switch sides real quick. Don’t burn those bridges yet.

• Check if your parents even understand what they did. Sit down with them, calmly, and ask if they actually knew this would destroy your credit and financial future, or if someone told them this was a “normal” way adult kids help their parents. Older folks get terrible financial advice all the time. They might genuinely think this was legitimate payback, not fraud. Their answer matters before you decide how nuclear to go.
• You’re allowed to protect yourself and still love them. Fighting the debt legally doesn’t mean you hate your parents or are ungrateful. You can pursue fraud charges and offer to help them in ways that don’t destroy you, such as helping them apply for assistance programs or contributing a reasonable amount monthly once your credit is fixed. Love and boundaries aren’t mutually exclusive.

• Find out what your parents actually told people about paying for your college. Did they brag about it to relatives? Post about it on Facebook? Or did they tell everyone you got scholarships while they quietly footed the bill? If they’ve been holding this over your head privately but never publicly claimed credit, that’s different than if they made it a known sacrifice.
• Ask yourself what you’ll regret more in ten years. Not the moral high ground question, the practical one. Will you regret losing your family over this, or regret sacrificing your entire financial future? Because both might happen here. There’s no perfect answer. Only you know which one you can actually live with when you’re 40.

Think George’s situation is complicated? Wait until you hear about the parent on the other side of this coin. One mother refused to hand over her retirement fund to bail out her struggling adult son, and the family fallout was just as brutal. Read her story here.