AITA? Sister in law kicked us out after helping her?

A Reddit user and his wife agreed to move in with his sister-in-law (SIL) to help her with her two young kids and manage household responsibilities. The arrangement was meant to be temporary, with promises of a renovated basement for their own space.

However, when the renovation never happened and the user and his wife decided to move out, his SIL unexpectedly kicked them out with no prior warning, leaving them devastated. She later gaslighted them, claiming they didn’t contribute to the household, even though they had taken care of her kids and house.

Now, the user feels emotionally and financially hurt and doesn’t want any further contact with his SIL. His wife, however, wants to make amends for the sake of seeing the kids. Read the full story below to see if you think the user’s feelings are justified.

‘ AITA? Sister in law kicked us out after helping her?’

AITA?? My wife and i agreed to help my wife’s sister with her two young kids. She moved into a big house, is a single mother. is a president of a company. before she moved, we would help out a lot anyways with the kids, over nights, take to sporting events, take to school, pick up from school, help with her dogs etc.

We rented out our home, and moved in to her house with our senior dogs start of the year, with the promise of her renovating the basement to a full functional house with everything we need. That never happened. We decided to tell her in July its best we move back home after a year as she was not able to fullfill her promise, and we need our own space and that was not going to happen clearly.

She was silent and never said anything. refused to listen more to my wife who wanted to help with coordinating scheduled so she could still help with the kids after school.

Aug. 1st she just sent via text to move out that weekend, and would tell the kids we were just on vacation but she wanted us out of the house ASAP. It was devestating and a surprise. Especially how close we are to the kids. My wife made quick arrangements to stay at our close friends.

IT was decided i would move 2 hours away with our dogs as i work from home and staying with my wife’s mother was the best option while she stayed with our friends in town as it was down the street from her work.

I want nothing to do with her ever for what she did. She continues to gasslight us and say we never did anything in the house. we took care of everything, she only saw us in the evenings when she came home late when we were on the couch before we went to bed .

we took care of the kids, the house (she is filthy person to cleain up after ) and said we didtn do anything at home, and doesnt know why we invited ourselves to live at her house!

my wife wants to make nice and move past to see the kids, however i will not be doing anything of the sort as she really damaged us financially and emotionally. it took a toll on my wife and i’s relationship, and my mental health.
AITA here for not ever wanting that woman in my life again? i want to speak t so bad to her, but bascially told its best to just be quiet.

Heres the input from the Reddit crowd:

Tdluxon −  NTA. Seems like now that you left she’ll start to realize pretty quickly how much you were doing but at this point it’s probably too late to mend the relationship anyways.

Solid-Feature-7678 −  I am a land lord and after reading the replies you left you SIL broke the law. What she did is called an illegal eviction. It varies state to state but your are required by law to give someone 30-45 days to move out. You could take her to the cleaners if you sue her.

Zealousideal_Elk2208 −  NTA, and I’m pretty sure your sister-in-law missed the memo on how family actually works. It sounds like she pulled a classic “thanks for the help, now get out” move. Moving in was supposed to be a team effort, not a free babysitting service with a side of emotional whiplash.

It’s understandable that your wife wants to keep the peace for the kids, but you’ve got to protect your own mental health first. Maybe send her a card that says, “Wish you were here… in a more functional way!” But really, take care of yourselves—life’s too short for family drama that leaves you feeling like you just binge-watched a bad reality show.

Neonpinx −  NTA. Your SIL is an a**sive l**r that took advantage of you and your wife. She exploited your kindness and generosity and lied to you and betrayed your trust and made you and your wife homeless. Your wife needs to get some self respect and stop trying to get you to play nice to a woman slandering you and who has no remorse and apologies for how she abused, exploited, slandered, sabotaged and disrespected you.

Maybe if she was accountable for her abuse and lies, apologized and financially compensated you for your labour and eviction you would feel differently.She has done nothing to make amends for her a**sive actions. It’s a**sive of your wife to demand you play nice with the woman who abused you both and made you homeless.

Ask your wife if she realizes that her insistence you “play nice” is destroying your marriage and that she could lose you forever if she continues to demand you allow yourself to get abused, exploited and disrespected by her sister. NTA.

MaxieRhoads −  NTA, you helped a lot, and her reaction was really unfair it’s understandable you don’t want her in your life after that.

Holiday_Newspaper_29 −  So, I’m guessing there is a hell of a lot more to this story than OP is willing to let on.

Economy_Rutabaga9450 −  So who did she suckered in to replace you with the kids? Are they working for free too?. NTA.
Never volunteer to help family without a back up or escape plan.

NanaLeonie −  NTA to not want to have anything to do with your SIL. It’s unfortunate that your wife is so attached to the children that she would let her sister take advantage of you and your wife. Hopefully your wife will be able to see the kids without being their second mother or unpaid nanny again.

FerroMancer −  This feels like a reply to some other story on here – trying to fill in details while avoiding anything specific.

Unusual_Ad_512 −  You’re not the a**hole here; it sounds like you and your wife went above and beyond to help her, and her reaction was both ungrateful and hurtful, especially after you made sacrifices for her family.