New mom asks if it’s “fair” husband earning $280k expects her pay half the rent while on maternity leave

A new mom on unpaid maternity leave asked if it’s fair for her high-earning husband to make her pay half the rent to a resounding “no.” Redditors on the r/Marriage forum hated to hear that this man expects the mother of his child to struggle to pay anything for rent when he makes so much more than she does.

Making his wife pay rent

According to the post by u/No-Quit-1112, she makes $68,000 per year to his $280,000. Their monthly rent is just $2,600, and even half that would be a bit rough on that lower-end salary. It sounds impossible if you’re on unpaid maternity leave.

“We’ve been splitting rent 50-50 since we moved in together, before we got married,” the OP wrote. “The arrangement did not change after we got married and now that we have a baby, with me having 0 income, so I’m relying on my personal savings. I say personal because we don’t have a joint account.”

The new mother added that her husband is now paying the full utility bills, funds their yearly travel, and pays for most of the groceries. However, she said she buys most of the baby stuff, and now he wants her to nearly wipe out her savings by paying for half the deposit on a house.

She asked her fellow Redditors if this sounds “fair,” and the outrage went on for over 1,500 comments.

“WHAT?!”

The overwhelming opinion among Reddit commenters was that this dude has lost his mind.

“That kiddo literally would not exist without LITERALLY 50% of his contribution,” u/princessamirak pointed out. “Where in the absolute Sweet Love of f*ck does he think you’re going to get money to be paying for half the rent?”

“Give your head a shake woman you know the answer to your question.”

“I’m sorry, he makes 280K and right now you have to use your PERSONAL SAVINGS because you aren’t working because you had HIS baby? WHAT?!” asked u/Let_Me_OverThink28.

Others had ideas for what would be a fair way to charge him for some of that unpaid labor.

“Tell him you’re charging him rent for the time his child was in your uterus and the birth pain,” advised u/badassandfifty.

“Also for breastfeeding – you’re saving a ton of money on formula,” u/minimed_18 pointed out.

The horror spread all the way to X, where users discussed how important it is to really get to know someone before you marry them.

“I wonder how many people never had many conversations about finances and kids and you know very important things before getting married,” said @JulieChangRE.

“Buying a house together seems like another bad idea / decision.”

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