I’m 75, my husband is 79. We just celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this year. I’ll try to keep this short, but there’s some backstory.

For over 15 years, we’ve been helping our son and his wife financially. Not just here and there, we’ve covered big things. We helped them with down payments, cars, childcare, even paying off some of their debts.

We never asked for anything in return, never pressured them, we just wanted to see them do well. But it was always taken for granted. Never a real ‘thank you,’ never any thoughtfulness back. Honestly, sometimes I felt more like their ATM than a parent.

Anyway, at our 50th anniversary party, we had friends and family over. My son and DIL showed up with this giant box, and I thought, ‘Wow, maybe they finally went out of their way to do something nice for us.’ Everyone was excited, and we opened it right there in front of the guests.”

“To my horror, the box was filled with their old, worn-out clothes. I’m talking clearly used, her dresses, his shirts, just stuff they cleaned out of their closet. I was stunned. Our guests went silent. I felt humiliated, like this was some cruel joke.

Later, when things calmed down, I asked my son to come by. I sat him down and very gently said, ‘Do you really think your father and I don’t deserve a decent present? What did we do to deserve something like this?’

He just looked at me and said, ‘Mom, the present isn’t important, the attention is, isn’t it?’ That cut deep, but I swallowed it and moved on.

Two months later, it was my son’s birthday, and my husband and I were invited. We brought an envelope. I could see my DIL’s eyes light up. She clearly thought it was cash, as usual.

But when they opened it, it was copies of the new will. We’d changed everything: instead of leaving them our estate, it’s all going to an animal shelter. They were furious.

And before walking out, I repeated my son’s own words back to him, ‘Dear, the present is not important, the attention is. Isn’t it?’

Now my son and DIL are angry and the rest of the family is divided. Some say we’re justified after years of being used, others say we were too harsh and should’ve just accepted their ‘gift’ and moved on.

So, people, am I wrong for cutting my son and his wife out of our will after what they did?”