“AITA for reporting my ex and her husband to the police for stealing my property?”
My ex-wife (39f) and I (41m) share custody of our three children (16, 14 and 12) equally and no child support is paid. Our marriage didn’t end on the best of terms and we communicate through an app only when required to for the sake of the kids. She has since remarried and has a 15 year old stepchild and a 13 year old stepchild. Her husband and I do not speak also.We’ve had some issues with my ex keeping property that is mine if the kids have it on her time. It started with a cell phone. I gave our eldest my old phone when one of ex’s stepkids broke his phone.My ex then told our oldest they were keeping it at her house and she refused to return it even when I went over there and asked. I was told she had every right to confiscate it. I followed up with an email and she told me to get over it and she would not hand it over.
The next time our daughter (14) brought some of my tools into school with her for an assignment but it was a custody exchange day so she left my house but went home to her mom’s. My ex believed it wasn’t appropriate for her to have them so she took them and refused to return them to me. Again I got a written exchange as proof.This last time was with our youngest. I let him use an old iPod for a class assignment on recent old tech gadgets. Apparently her 13 year old stepchild had the same assignment on a different day and she decided both should get to use it. I told her it was my property and she had to return it, got another email exchange and then I contacted the police.
My ex gave the stuff back but she lost her mind over me getting the police involved for petty stuff. She said I could have demanded it back after her step kid used the iPod and I told her she wasn’t giving any of it back and what I give for my kids is not for her step kids.
She brought up how more serious trouble could have come from it and I told her it would be deserved because you cannot steal someone else’s property. She told me it was just my spiteful side emerging because none of it was a big deal or I never would have given them to my kids, which I think is the dumbest argument.The phone was because her step kids broke our eldest’s phone and she wasn’t about to replace it, our daughter needed tools for school and it was only for school and she wanted to return them to me but her mom said no and then the iPod was just for our youngest.
I’m not here to help her step kids in any way. My ex and her husband and their mom if she’s still in the picture can do that.
AITA?
