‘Being there’ for your kids is important for any parent, but children breaking the law is typically where many might draw the line. That said, a North Carolina son stole his family’s car and ran off, disappearing for several weeks. A little while later, the mom starts to receive fines under her name for “speeding, toll violations, red light cameras, parking violations, driving without registration, driving without insurance all across New York.” This left her with over $ 5,000 worth of fines to pay and a credit score that plummeted into the ground.
“I’m overwhelmed and unsure how to dispute the charges and clear my record without pressing criminal charges or sending my son to jail,” the North Carolina mom tells Reddit’s r/legaladvice. She claims she doesn’t want any of her son’s crimes to follow him for the rest of his life, but she also doesn’t have the wherewithal to afford his “financial burdens.” Her goal, apparently, is to clear her name and push the $5K+ responsibility on her son, even though almost everything that happened in New York is legally under her name. Somehow, the mother believes it might be possible to do all this without him going to jail.
Unfortunately for her, the top comment with 4K+ upvotes tells the North Carolina mom the hard truth about her runaway son and his fines. “No. You can pay it, or you can file police reports naming him. Somebody has to pay those tickets.” Although some states would have the driver hold the payment responsibility, one user points out that New York charges the registered owner. The issue here, though, is that the mom is trying to keep her son out of trouble while also trying not to pay the fines herself, and a user had a perfect response for this situation:
“If he’s been pulling this sh** since he was 15 and he’s now 23, what makes you think letting him get away with this behavior without feeling the very real, very serious consequences of vehicular theft is going to help him change? You’re enabling this behavior by trying to remove these consequences. He’s grown. Let him learn. That’s the only way he even has the CHANCE to grow.”
Plenty more commenters agree with the above sentiment and were shocked that the mom would even consider not letting the law punish her son. “So he stole your car, racked up multiple traffic and moving violations, and you don’t want to get him in trouble? Seriously?!?! His actions have consequences and you protecting him teaches him nothing other than his parent will bail him out,” remarks a Redditor.
Whatever the case, this North Carolina mom is paying the price for not raising her son properly, and she’s left with little choice since someone will pay for what happened regardless.
