China mother takes revved-up son to court over ‘tuition’ savings

A mother in China has taken her 19 year old son to court after he spent her tuition savings to buy a new car for his girlfriend. The woman, known only as Liu, a 41 year old resident of Shexian province, raised her son, known only as Xiao Wei single-handedly following her divorce.

Upon deciding to remarry, Liu transferred all her savings of 500,000 yuan (2 million baht) to Xiaowei’s account, as she wanted to avoid any future financial disputes with her new husband. She explained to her son that the money was what she had saved over many years for his overseas education, given she had high hopes for his academic abilities. As such, she promised to save a further 500,000 yuan if he intended to study seriously.

However, Liu kept his bank passbook, thinking him too immature. To her shock, she discovered this year, when Xiao Wei was due to attend university, that all the savings had been withdrawn.

On contacting the bank, she learned that her son had reported the passbook lost and reset the password to withdraw the money. He then transferred it to his girlfriend, spending 200,000 yuan on a car and going on a trip with her.

Liu asked her son and his girlfriend to return the remaining 300,000 yuan but they refused, claiming the money was his because she had saved it to give to him. In the end, the mother decided to sue her son in court.

The court tried to mediate the case between mother and son, persuading Xiao Wei that the money was saved for his future, not gifted, and telling Liu she needed to respect her son’s desire to live independently.

Eventually, a settlement was reached in which Xiao Wei agreed to return the remaining money to his mother, while Liu pledged to continue paying his tuition and monthly living expenses, reported Sanook.

Once the story went public, netizens sympathized with Liu for having to deal with a son who failed to appreciate his mother’s good intentions.

“The mother is so pitiful, she lost both her money and her child.”

“If I were her, I wouldn’t spend any more money on him and focus on my own life, as he seems to be an adult already.”

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