A Chinese mother sued her son after he spent $27,000 on tuition to buy a car for his girlfriend (Illustration: The Print).
SCMP reported that the 41-year-old mother, surnamed Liu, sued her 19-year-old son Xiaowei in court for using a large sum of money she had saved to buy a car for his girlfriend, even though the money was money she had saved for her son to pay for his university tuition.
Chinese media said Ms Liu raised her son alone in Sichuan province, southwestern China, after she divorced the young man's father when he was a child.
According to Hongxing News , Ms. Liu deposited her entire 500,000 yuan ($68,000) savings under Xiaowei's name when she remarried, to avoid the scenario of having to split the money with her new husband if they split up in the future.
Ms. Liu told her son that the money would be used to pay Xiaowei's tuition when he went abroad to study. Having high expectations for her son's academic performance, Ms. Liu also promised to save another 500,000 yuan for him "if he studies hard."
She also kept the bank passbook because she thought her son was not mature enough to be responsible for such a large sum of money.
However, she was "shocked" to learn that Xiaowei, who had just become a freshman in college, had withdrawn all the money from the said savings account.
A bank representative said that Xiaowei reported the loss of his savings book to create a new password for the account to withdraw his mother's money.
Ms. Liu then discovered that Xiaowei had transferred all the money to his girlfriend, surnamed Wu, and spent 200,000 yuan ($27,000) on buying her a new car and traveling together.
Ms. Liu then asked Xiaowei and Wu to return the remaining 300,000 yuan, but they refused, saying that the money belonged to him because she had saved it for him.
As a result, Ms. Liu was forced to file a lawsuit against her son in June.
Later, the Mianyang Fucheng People's Court in Sichuan mediated the case between mother and daughter. This agency helped Xiaowei realize that the money was not a free gift, but was for future education.
The court also convinced Ms. Liu to understand her son's desire to live independently. The mother and son eventually agreed to reconcile and Xiaowei returned the remaining money to his mother. Ms. Liu said she would continue to provide Xiaowei with tuition and monthly living expenses.
The story of the mother and daughter has attracted public opinion in China, with many people sympathizing with Ms. Liu.
"Poor mother, she lost both her child and money," commented a Douyin social media user.
"If it were me, I would stop spending money on him and focus on my life. He's an adult now," another wrote.
"A thoughtless child wastes his mother's love like that," one comment stated.
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