r/BORUpdates • u/SharkEva • 17h ago
AITA AITA for demanding we move out after my mother-in-law asked for a DNA test and my husband wants us all to keep living together?
I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/Stunning-Region-9484 posting in r/AITH
Ongoing as per OOP
1 update - Medium
Original - 9th October 2026
Update - 15th October 2026
AITA for demanding we move out after my mother-in-law asked for a DNA test and my husband wants us all to keep living together?
I (28F) have been married to my husband (30M) for two years. We live with his mother (55F) in the family home, and we have a 4-month-old son. In the beginning, my MIL and I got along fine. She was strict, but I thought that was just her personality.
Three weeks ago, at the dinner table, she said she wanted a DNA test for the baby. When I asked why, she said the baby “doesn’t look like our side of the family” and that she “just wanted peace of mind.” She said it so casually, as if she was asking me to pass the salt.
I was shocked. I told her I have never given anyone a reason to doubt me, and I walked out of the room crying. I stayed with my sister for two days.
My husband came to get me, and to his credit, he took my side. He told his mother the request was disrespectful and that he would never put his wife through a test like that. She said she “only asked a question” and that I was being dramatic.
Here is where the problem is. After all this, I told him I want us to move into our own place. I can’t sit at that table every day across from someone who looked at my baby and thought I was lying. He said he understands why I’m hurt, but he can’t leave his mother alone. His dad passed away a few years ago, and he’s her only son. He wants us all to continue living together and “work it out.”
I told him that supporting me in words is not enough if I have to keep living under the same roof as the person who accused me. He said I’m forcing him to choose between his wife and his mother. I said I’m not asking him to cut her off, only to give us some distance.
Now he’s barely speaking to me, his relatives are calling me selfish, and my MIL is acting like the victim.
AITA for insisting on moving out?
EDIT: Thank you all for the kind words and for taking the time to comment. I can’t reply to everyone, so here are the answers to the most common points.
Many of you said this is a husband problem more than a MIL problem. I think you’re right. What she said hurt, but what hurts more is feeling that I have to keep sitting at that table as if nothing happened.
To those asking if I’m going to leave: no, not today. My sister has offered me a room, so I know I have somewhere safe to go. But I want to give my husband a real chance to understand what I need. We are talking this weekend.
To those who suggested a DNA test for her son: I thought about it, but I don’t want to turn this into a revenge war. My son would be the one stuck in the middle.
I’m not asking my husband to cut off his mother. I’m only asking for some distance and an apology. She is 55 and fully capable of living on her own.
I will update once we have talked. Thank you again.
Comments
tiredgummybear
You’re being gaslighted by his whole damn family. They can take her in, you can move out with the baby and your husband can stay there - OR he can take his head out of his ass and stand up for his family and your right to have your home be a safe and pleasant place for you. NTA but stand your ground. He’s either a husband or a mama’s boy, he can’t be both.
GoshenGal
I know a lot of you won’t like this but, even the Bible says you leave your family and cleve to your wife. Plus I wouldn’t want to life in someone else’s house. Even if it were a tiny apartment it would be your family’s
wutadinosaur
Demand that she take a DNA test for her son
OOP: I get the idea, but I don’t want to fight fire with fire. A DNA test would only make things worse, and my husband would see it as an attack on his mother. I’d rather she understand how much her words hurt without me doing the same to her.
Informal_Market6008
His dad passed away a few years ago, and he’s her only son.
So?
If this is a post from a non-USA'n, I'd understand cultural obligations .. I guess. But, I'm an elderly woman living in a community of other oldsters. Your MIL's plight is not atypical of the expected trajectory of a woman's life.
I have widow ladies living on each side of me, across the way, and on the next street over. Given the typical lifespan of men, I expect to join them in the not too distant future.
Believe me - NONE of us make demands on family to fill in that loss. Even the 93-year-old Phyllis, two doors down from me. Since she had her stroke last year, her son checks in on her in the morning to make sure she's still alive, then she dismisses him with a crackling "not dead today. Check again tomorrow!"
Unless your MIL has some sort of incapacity, the women of my neighborhood would sneer at her for taking over the life of her son and demeaning her DIL as she has you. Your husband would get eye daggers in the back, too.
**Judgement - NTA*\*
Update - 6 days later
Hi everyone. Thank you to everyone who commented on my first post. I read almost all of your replies, even the harsh ones. I said I would update after our family meeting this weekend, so here it is.
Quick recap: I (28F) live with my husband (30M) and his mother (55F). Three weeks ago, my MIL asked for a DNA test for our 4-month-old son because he “doesn’t look like our side of the family.” I asked my husband for distance, and he said he couldn’t leave his mother alone.
A lot of you were split. Some said I was overreacting. Many said I should never take the test. But after a lot of thinking, I decided something different.
I am going to do the DNA test.
Before anyone attacks me, let me explain why. I don’t need it. I have always known who my son’s father is. But I realized this doubt would never go away. Every time my son looked a little different, she would whisper again. Every time there was a fight, this would come back. I’m not doing it for her. I’m doing it so this question is closed forever.
I already asked a friend where such a test can be done, and I’m planning to book it myself. My husband didn’t push me. If anything, he would have kept everything the same and “worked it out” while I sat across from her every day. I told him clearly that I am doing this because he is not willing to leave his mother, so I have to carry the burden of proving myself.
At the family meeting this weekend, I said this in front of everyone:
“I will do the DNA test. But I have one condition. When the result comes back and it matches my husband, and it will, I will move out and live in a separate home with my husband and my son. And my mother-in-law will not be moving in with us.”
The room went silent. Some relatives said I was being harsh. My MIL said she “only wanted peace of mind.” I told her peace of mind should not come at the cost of destroying my dignity.
I also decided one more thing. When my son grows up and becomes mature, I will tell him the truth about what happened, that his own grandmother once doubted his mother and made her go through this. I won’t lie about it, and I won’t hide it.
At the very least, I want her to feel regret for what she did. She may never apologize, but when that report comes back, she will have to live with it.
So, AITA for making the test conditional on us moving out? And am I wrong to want my MIL to feel the consequences of her own words?
Comments
Careless-Ability-748
The bigger question is will your husband move? You can make a decision for yourself but you can't make it for him.
OOP: You’re right, and that’s the part I can’t control. I can decide what I’m willing to live with, but I can’t decide for him. That’s exactly why I’m not springing this on him. The condition was said at the family meeting, in front of everyone, so he heard it clearly and nobody can say later that they didn’t know.
I’m not asking him to abandon his mother. I’m asking for a separate home, close enough that he can visit her every day if he wants. If the result matches and he still refuses to move, then that tells me where I stand in this marriage, and I’ll have to decide what I do next with that knowledge. But I’m not going to live the rest of my life across the table from someone who doubted my child.
Ok-Chemistry9933
If he wants to stay home with his mommy, your only choice should be divorce. This kind of thing will continue to happen.
facinationstreet
I will move out and live in a separate home with my husband and my son
You should have moved out before the 'family' meeting and left your husband behind with his mommy, put him on child support and alimony and moved on.
MelissaRC2018
I was going to say get the rest the court and if he doesn’t want to move she has the dna through the court to file child support. And if he doesn’t move or tries to move her back he’s gone and I would file
Lowermains
Insist that your husband has a DNA TEST comparing her husband’s dna. Your Bitch of a … Seems to be projecting.
I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments