What would you do?

ankspon

The person who asked his son to help out is estranged from his sons mother for the simple reason they fell out of love,this was over 20 years ago,I assure you that he is a good man who did nothing wrong,all he wanted was some help for his family,it was a loan not a gift he asked for.When i say his son is rich, he is named on the rich list so we are not talking peanuts here.All he asked for was a loan of £17000.The son took his mother for a ride down the motorway in his lamborghini for last years mothers day,no card or flowers.

Primrose

You have only told us one side of the story, and I'm sure if the other person involved here was asked, they would possibly have a totally different perspective. We have loaned money to family members in the past which has not been repaid, sometimes on occasions where we had to make financial sacrifices ourselves to help out. And when you ask for loans to be repaid and family members say they can't afford to but continue with heavy drinking or smoking habits, you begin to wonder why you bothered. Many people just treat other members of their family as free bankers and don't feel any obligation to repay money which has been loaned, so I would be very slow to judge on this without knowing all the facts.
You mention about the father having a wife and two young children, but there also seems to be a much older son who is old enough to have made his way in the world, which is perhaps why he's been able to accumulate some money. . I wonder if this involves the father being married a second time and starting a second family.
Sounds to me as if there could be some long term family relationship break-up and resentments featuring in this case. If older son saw his mother dumped for a younger woman who has since had more children, perhaps it's not surprising that things are not as straightforward as they might seem on the surface.

katieclampet

I would help out my dds if they needed it, and possibly my parents, BUT each case is individual. As many other posters have said, we don't know the full story, and although the son sounds "mean", there is probably a whole lot going on there. By the sounds of it, many people have been badly bitten by lending money to family members, and maybe he has too.

katiex