If your spouse threatened to divorce you unless you bought a house, would you hurry up and make that purchase, or walk away from your marriage?
It was two years ago that this man inherited a substantial amount of money from his dad after he unfortunately passed away. At the same time, his wife’s mom and dad were growing older, and he thought it would be a good idea to move closer to where they live.
His wife’s mom was already in a nursing home at that point, and they were living on the opposite side of the country. He and his wife were able to find an amazing new house that looked like a dream for the two of them and their dog.
While it wasn’t exactly next door to their families, it was much closer and allowed them to be more reachable in the event of an emergency.
“As we got closer to our closing date, I was getting cold feet due to seeing inflation becoming a problem, and the area and the job market only had low-paying jobs,” he explained.
“We made significantly more at our old jobs, and our mortgage plus bills [are] more than we can afford with our current jobs. Two weeks before the close date, I wanted to pull out and stay where we were.”
“My wife hated where we were and wanted to be closer to her mom. She even threatened to divorce me if I pulled out of the sale. A year later, after caving to my wife, I am now 25k in credit card debt, we’re spending more money than we can make, and I am struggling mentally and physically.”
There are numerous things in his life that are literally falling apart, like his washer, dryer, and car. His dog is sick and needs to go to the vet, which is also costly.
His wife has refused to help out around the house or even put money towards paying their utility bills, which is further stressing him out.
His wife has a very low-income job that provides them with benefits, so they do have healthcare, but recently she got addicted to an herbal drug, and then she had to get treated with Suboxone, which costs them a fair amount of money.
He and his wife did have a conversation about moving back to where they lived before when his wife’s mom passed away, but she recently did, and his wife is unwilling to relocate.
“I am considering leaving her and putting the house back on the market at the end of summer and moving back to where we were. I hate it here and want nothing more than [to go] back to the way things were,” he continued.
“[I’m] hoping that with the little money she’ll be getting from her mom, she’ll fix her car, take the dog to the vet, and move on with her life.”
Well, it’s impossible to rewind time, so he’s not doing himself any favors in getting hung up on wishing he could go back to how things were before they bought the house.
I do think the best thing for him to do is file for divorce, relist the house, and go back to the other side of the country alone. But first, he should have a conversation with his wife to outline why he’s so unhappy and give her a heads-up that he’s done.
What advice do you have for him?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
