A mother in China has taken her son to court after he spent a huge chunk of the money she had saved up for him to pay his university tuition fees on a new car for his girlfriend.
The 41-year-old woman, surnamed Liu, has been raising her son Xiaowei, 19, by herself in southwestern China’s Sichuan province after she divorced his father when the boy was young.
Liu deposited all her savings of 500,000 yuan (US$68,000) under Xiaowei’s name when she remarried, to avoid the money being shared by her new husband if they were to split up in the future, according to a report in the Chinese media outlet Hongxing News on October 22.
She told her son that the money was saved for his future overseas study expenses.
With high expectations about her son’s academic performance, Liu also promised to save another 500,000 yuan for him “if he works hard”.
Liu kept the bank passbook due to the fact that her son was still too young to take responsibility for it.
However, she was shocked to find out this year that Xiaowei, who became a university freshman this year, had withdrawn all the money from the savings account.
She learned from the bank that her son reported the loss of the passbook, and set a new password for the account to withdraw the money.
Liu then learned that Xiaowei had transferred all the money to his girlfriend, surnamed Wu, and spent 200,000 yuan (US$27,000) on a new car for her as a gift, and a trip with her.
The heartbroken Liu asked Xiaowei and Wu to return the remaining 300,000 yuan, but they turned her down, saying the money belonged to him because she saved it for him.
Liu was therefore forced to take her son to court in June.
The Sichuan Mianyang Fucheng People’s Court mediated between the mother and son.
It helped Xiaowei realise the money was saved for his future education instead of a free gift, and persuaded Liu to understand her son’s wish to live independently.
They reached an agreement through mediation, with Xiaowei paying the remaining money back to his mother.
Liu said she will continue to pay for Xiaowei’s tuition and living expenses on a monthly basis.
The online community said they pitied Liu for sacrificing for a thoughtless son.
“What a poor mother, losing both her money and her son,” said one person on Douyin.
“If it were me, I would spend no more money on him and focus on my own life. He is a grown-up now,” said another.
“What a thoughtless child, wasting his mother’s love like that,” said a third.