‘Then she started asking for more money’: Divorced dad refuses to do school runs and after‑school care for his ex’s stepdaughter, after she brags about her rich new husband, arguing her new family’s childcare mess isn’t his problem

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Aug 26, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

Full disclosure, I am not divorced, I am not even married, and if one of my exes reached out asking for help, I would probably try to help. But demanding something from me? Wow. I would thank them for the opportunity to discover what they can do with their demands and where I think their entitlement would fit best. That is why this story feels less like co‑parenting and more like community theater performed by people who ran out of shame several acts ago.

Here we have a father who is fully pulling his weight for his kids, only to be asked to step in as unpaid help for his ex's stepdaughter. A child he has no connection to beyond bad luck in the cast list of someone else's marriage. The reason? Money is tight, childcare is expensive, and apparently boundaries now count as cruelty.

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  • AITA for refusing to do school drop off/pickup for my ex's stepdaughter or let her come to my house with our boys after school?

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    via Cookie Studio

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  • My ex (34f) and I (35m) share custody of our two boys (10 and 8). She left me for her husband (40m) 4 years ago and sued for sole custody, which she lost.
    via BusinDaduu
  • Then her husband tried to start sh with me. He bragged about all his money and how he'd spoil the sh out of *his* new sons and they'd see why a two parent household was better than a struggling single parent household.
    via BusinDaduu
  • So bad blod exists between us. Luckily they could never come between me and my boys. The whole we have SO much money thing lasted all of a year and a half and then she started asking for more money,
    via BusinDaduu

  • But kids are perceptive. His sons told him plainly: they want time with their dad, not their stepsister. That is enough. Denying the request is not petty or cruel. It is simply calling out entitlement for what it is: someone else’s problem trying to invade your living room

  • Cheezburger Image 10544168192
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • she tried suing for more child support and in general would whine about their poor financial state. I ignored it all and offered to take primary custody if that would help.
    via BusinDaduu

  • The problem, of course, is history. This ex already tried to strip custody, already weaponized her shiny new husband’s money, and already played the superiority card. Now the lavish two‑parent fantasy has collapsed, and suddenly the struggling single dad they mocked looks like the discount solution holding the whole household together.

  • My ex has a stepdaughter who's 7(?) and she lives with them full time. They also have two children together. A month ago ex sent me a message through our co-parenting app asking me to take her stepdaughter to and from school each day when the kids are back at school.
    via BusinDaduu
  • Cheezburger Image 10544168960
    via Monkey Business Images

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • She also wanted me to keep her stepdaughter at my house 3-4x a week after school. Apparently finances are so tight that they cannot afford childcare and her family do not want the stepdaughter but are watching the younger two so she and her husband can work.
    via BusinDaduu
  • For more than a year now I was already doing it all for our sons. I have them after school on her parenting time and I pick them up for school and drop them off.
    via BusinDaduu
  • But I do not want to do her or her husband any favors. This was for my boys. And they don't want to have their stepsister over at our house.
    via BusinDaduu
  • I talked to them about it after they said their mom mentioned it to them. They don't seem too fond of her (or their half siblings) and they like having me without their stepsister or half siblings.
    via BusinDaduu
  • For me that's all I needed. This girl is not my child and while I feel bad that she clearly isn't treated well by my ex's family I do not feel it should be on me.
    via BusinDaduu
  • My ex has pushed for this repeatedly through the app. My attorney knows. She's keeping tabs and if we ever need it we have proof of everything for court should things get to that point again.
    via BusinDaduu
  • Ex has tried to guilt and shame me for saying no. She also tried to blame me if something bad happened to her stepdaughter because she had bad childcare if they have to scrape cheap care together.
    via BusinDaduu
  • I still don't feel like that's my responsibility. But AITA for refusing?
    via BusinDaduu

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family drama inheritance brother mother tradition siblings family feud favoritism wedding aunt in laws mother in law sister fiancé grandmother Father
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