AITA for ratting my mother-in-law out to her boyfriend for dumping his dog behind his back and stealing from his roommate?

A Reddit user shared a story about confronting their mother-in-law (MIL) after discovering she dumped her boyfriend’s dog and stole from his roommate. The MIL claimed the dog needed rehoming due to landlord issues, but when her boyfriend discovered the truth, the user revealed everything, including prior thefts. Was the user right to expose the MIL’s actions, or should they have stayed out of it? Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for ratting my mother-in-law out to her boyfriend for dumping his dog behind his back and stealing from his roommate?’

My MIL moved out to live with her boyfriend after we asked her to leave. Then a week ago she brought us her boyfriend’s dog (beautiful golden retriever) and told us that he needed to rehome it because his landlord didn’t want pets.

The poor dog was depressed the whole time even though my dog kept bringing him toys and trying to play. Yesterday, MIL’s boyfriend showed up at our house to get something of hers out of the garage and saw the dog. They were both overjoyed and the boyfriend said that he thought the dog was missing.

I could have covered for MIL, but I told him that she brought the dog to us and said he wanted to rehome it. Then I also ratted her out for something else that had happened even though it was unnecessary.

The boyfriend is a chef and lives in a large rent house with some other restaurant workers including two early 20s girls who share a bedroom. One of the girls had called my wife and said that MIL had stolen a piece of jewelry and a bottle of perfume from her room.

She just wanted the things back (the jewelry was a gift from her parents) without starting drama in the house. My wife managed to get them back to their rightful owner without boyfriend knowing. Now boyfriend is irate over both situations and kicking MIL out. AITA for ratting MIL out when I could have said a lot less than I did?

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

EmceeSuzy −  You have a very strange way of characterizing all of this drama. Why would you think you were ‘ratting’ your mother-in-law out when what you were doing was giving a straightforward answer to a man whose dog was missing?

Your choice to throw in the jewelry theft after the dog thing is pretty weird but can you honestly say that a sensible and attentive boyfriend would have been shocked by any of this? You are NTA, but if I were you I would spend a lot more time worrying about my wife’s apparent comfort with this sort of criminal behavior from her mother.

IamIrene −  NTA. Boyfriend needs to know about MIL and what she’s doing. I be raging pissed if someone just gave my dog away and told me she’d run off. She’s a MASSIVE AH for doing that to him. She deserves to be kicked out and dropped like rock.

feminist1946 −  NTA. Overjoyed you returned the dog to his dad. This idea of snitching is bad comes from the takers in our society. You did good to tell him so he dumps her too.

StAlvis −  NTA. Do not cover for people’s **_crimes_**, WTF?

SomeoneYouDontKnow70 −  NTA. You would have been TA if you hadn’t given this poor guy a heads up that the woman who had just moved in with him was rehoming his pet without his consent and stealing from his housemates/co-workers.

notadruggie31 −  NTA, its not your responsibility to cover for your MIL, she does sound exhausting

fernswordgirl432 −  NTA. You did the right thing. Your MIL was trying to get rid of the guy’s dog AND stealing from his housemates? Nah… she got herself kicked out and saved this guy and his household a lot of grief. Let her be someone else’s problem.

ssellzey −  Why do you keep trying to save your mother-in-law for God sake. She sounds like a kleptomaniac and makes very questionable choices for other people without telling them the truth about things. She is definitely TA.

dragonetta123 −  NTA. With the dog, you were answering a question and clarifying a situation. If the boyfriend had agreed to rehome then I would have a different response to the theft, but as he’s clearly had MIL lie to him already, I think it’s reasonable yo let him know about the theft.

Far-Discount-6624 −  As a golden retriever owner I hate your mother in law. You’re not ratting her out your saving a man from the worst mistake of his life.

Was the user justified in being honest about their MIL’s actions, or should they have let her handle the fallout with her boyfriend? How would you approach such a situation to balance honesty and family dynamics? Share your thoughts below!