Dad gives the family business to brother-in-law instead of his son, who has worked there for 17 years since he was 15 years old, son starts a new business, forcing dad to beg him to come back: 'The business is now 100% my brother-in-law’s'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 19, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

Is this "Succession" in real life? It's at least some weird "Sopranos" fusion version of it, where the family runs a mechanics shop instead of a sanitation company or media empire. 

Family businesses carry an incredible burden. The founding members of the family have likely toiled most of their adult lives to bring about the company's success. Building the company from its infancy, through tough times, towards eventual profitability and even accolades. There's a strong likelihood that all of that work has been done amidst the raising of their own children, with the time and emotional energy spent on the company sometimes at the cost of that family and their place in it. So the two become inseparably intertwined.

But, at some point, there is going to be the question of succession: who will take up the mantle and the weight of a legacy?

Taking place absent from the boardrooms amidst a Manhattan skyline, this account of events takes place upon the grease-stained shop floors of a mechanic's workshop, with literal years of sweat amalgamating with the oil to form a bitter betrayal. 

This now 32-year-old son worked at his father's repair shop for the last 17 years, since he was 15 years old, and literally for his entire adult life up until this point. He did so with the understanding that it would one day be his; however, on the eve of his 60th birthday, his father announced that the shop would instead be handed over to his brother-in-law, who had no experience at all in the trade. Humiliated, betrayed, and facing a demotion and pay cut, he made a commitment to himself then and there that he would strike out on his own. In doing so, he took most of the existing shop's employees and customers with him, a testament to how well regarded he was amongst staff and the customer base alike. The family business began to struggle, and the son's father had to return from retirement to try to right a sinking ship. Eventually, that father was forced to attempt to reconcile, but his pleas were ignored. Despite his resolution to remain on the course he had set out on, the son couldn't help but wonder whether or not he should be accepting reconciliation, feeling the guilt of possibly decimating a legacy, tugging at him despite the betrayal. 

Was he wrong for his part in tearing apart his family and his legacy? Well, that's for you to decide for yourself.

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  • 01

    [Am I wrong] for cutting off my entire family after dad gave the family business I’ve been working at for 17 years to my brother in law and starting a rival business?

    I'm 32 and I've been working at my dad's car repair shop for 17 years now since I was 15, I was the only guy out of what used to be 4 siblings, 2 of my sisters d d a few years ago together in a crash and my middle sister 26 got married to the most smug guy I've ever seen 2 years ago and they have a son and they're expecting a daughter now. And so ever since I could remember the business was always supposed to go to me and I've basically been running everything for a couple of years now while dad
    via [deleted]
  • 02
    A mechanic works intently on a car engine
    via Erik Mclean

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

  • 03
    4 months ago was dad's 60th birthday and the entire family was over at our house to celebrate including all my aunts and uncles and cousins, and there he announced that he's stepping down and retiring and handing over the business not to me but to my brother in law who literally never worked a day in the business and doesn't have a clue about anything in it, dad had the audacity to tell me to show him around and teach him
    via [deleted]
  • 04
    everything I know, I asked what about me and if I get some share of the business and he said no, his reasoning is that my brother in law is married and has a family and he wants his only daughter left to be secure and to not worry about the future, and not only am I not getting any shares of the business I'm getting a huge demotion and pay cut since again for years now I've been basically the ceo and I've been handling everything in the
    via [deleted]
  • 05
    business but now that's his job and I just got demoted to head mechanic with an over 15k dollars cut. I got mad and yelled at dad that he's a lying b Ird and he said that all the paperwork was already done and that the business is now 100% my brother in law's and told me to take it and shut up.
    via [deleted]
  • 06
    I just left and immediately started working, I had connections in our fields and for years I was the one handling relationships with our clients and business partners and I had enough savings to start a new rival business and so I did, I took most of the guys from our business because they didn't like how I was pushed aside and they feared the same could happen to them, and I started making calls to our
    via [deleted]
  • 07
    customers and slowly I've been taking them away. my dad and family are all furious with me but they can all s k my I don't care, and my brother in law has no clue what he's doing and the business is failing bad dad had to come out of retirement and he's getting his hands dirty and is actually working on cars himself which he hasn't done in a decade because I took most of the guys with me and they don't have the cash flow to bring new guys in.
    via [deleted]
  • 08
    Last week dad called me sounded old and tired as h I and he begged me to come back saying the business is failing bad and that it's his and my legacy and I just said good, I want them to suffer and I want that business to go bankrupt and di, I sacrificed a lot of my life and personal life changing chances to grow that business on the promise that one day it'd be mine and he told me that thousands of times,
    via [deleted]
  • 09
    and there have been many months where I didn't get paid all and I just took it thinking one day it'll all be mine and it'd be worth it, but no he went and gave it all to some smug a h le because he knocked up his daughter a couple of times without even telling me or discussing it at all. My dad was p ed and he started screaming at me and I just hung up on him, my sister has been calling me every name in the
    via [deleted]
  • 10
    book but I couldn't care less about any of them now they can all h I. My new business is doing way better than expected and we can barely keep up, most days we're turning away people and telling them to come back later even though I hire 10 guys now. The only thing I'm grateful about from dad is giving me years of experience running a car repair shop and so when I started my own I knew exactly what I was doing.
    via [deleted]
  • 11
    Anyway some small part of me feels bad because this was dad's whole life and I remember as a kid watching him open his shop alone after working for someone else and I remember him putting his entire life into it and I remember when he used to take me and my late sisters over to the shop and let us watch him work and learn. But I immediately remember him becoming a sh and handing over my life's work to that smug b_ird. Was I too harsh and should I have reacted differently?
    via [deleted]
  • 12
    A mechanic concentrates as he works on a car
    via Sten Rademaker

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

  • 13
    natewainn NTA. Your dad didn't just hand the business to someone else, he disrespected nearly two decades of your loyalty and work. You owe them nothing, you built your own shop, and that's your legacy now.
    via [deleted]
  • 14
    Redd1tmadesignup He didn't even sign it over to your sister? He handed it to BIL? How does that guarantee HER future. He could divorce her tomorrow and walk away with everything. "This is mine and your legacy" exactly, I'm taking MY legacy with me. You showed me, your own Son that you don't owe me anything, so I'm taking your lead and customers, because I owe you nothing too!
    via [deleted]
  • 15
    PopExpert3780 I get that your dad worked hard to build the shop, but so did you. Seventeen years is basically your entire adult life. He can't expect you to be grateful after you over.
    via [deleted]
  • 16
    bitty20 NTA... and he didn't even pick your sister, he picked her husband. Makes the whole thing even shittier. Your dad, 100% TAH. Also your sister and BIL are TAH too. They know you got robbed and they didn't deserve to get the business yet still took it.
    via [deleted]
  • 17
    KissAndCursed fr you're not wrong for walking away, they straight up disrespected everything you built. lowkey feels like they only cared about securing your sister's family and not you which totally s ks. tbh you did what anyone would do, protect yourself and your future and if they're mad now, that's on them for playing stupid games.
    via [deleted]
  • 18
    Salty Thing3144 NTA. I'd be p ed too. Yeah - Start your own rival and drive them BOTH under. You probably know your dad's biggest customers? Offer them a better deal and lure them away.
    via [deleted]

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childcare family dynamics family drama aita entitled parents AITAH blended family customers family feud parenting dad entitled family reddit thread parent Reddit Parenting Fail brother in law parents children entitled people Parenting FAILS
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