Unlike random acquaintances or, say, coworkers, maintaining boundaries with in-laws can be complicated. After all, you can’t just cut them out without some consequences and you generally need to get your partner on board. Most people are, unfortunately, a lot more forgiving when it comes to their parents, siblings and other relatives.

A woman asked if she was wrong to lay a trap for her constantly snooping MIL, who couldn’t keep her hands out of her purse. We reached out to the woman who made the post via private message and will update the article when she gets back to us.

Discovering that someone went through your stuff is a nasty feeling

Image credits: lucigerma / Freepik (not the actual photo)

So one woman decided to prove, conclusively, that her MIL was snooping

Image credits: Image by Freepik (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Image by Freepik (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Blue85Heron

Some in-laws are simply worse than others

While “bad in-laws” seems like a tale as old as time, it’s important to note that in this story, the MIL is going “above and beyond.” Normally, one complains about passive-aggressive comments or perhaps too many demands about what to have for Thanksgiving dinner, but secretly going through someone’s stuff is entirely abnormal. This is why some folks end up taking drastic measures to limit the damage their spouse’s family insists on inflicting.

So this is less about establishing boundaries, since your property is by all definitions a boundary, and more about enforcing them. After all, telling someone they can’t enter your house without your permission isn’t a “personal boundary,” it’s the law. Similarly, this is such a bizarre case, that one actually needs to gather evidence before making accusations, particularly about your partner’s elderly mother.

It’s also worth pointing out that the husband is quite aware of how she acts, in the woman’s own words, “we did say no to her.” In this sense, the wife’s plan is ingenious, as it only “harms” the MIL, in the broadest sense of the word, if she is legitimately snooping around. At the very least, it’s just a bit of fun. After all, who doesn’t like making up fake letters for fake scenarios?

This level of intrusiveness is just not healthy for anyone

As many commenters noted, her having password access is a considerably bigger issue. It’s not just a regular security problem, it might make the wife and her partner liable if the mother does actually do something strange. In general, most banks, for example, simply do not allow people to share passwords like that. It can in many cases be a literal breach of terms and conditions.

At the very least, it’s a security concern and it’s also just unhealthy. A parent should not be snooping this much into the private and financial details of their very adult children. This is bizarre behavior that probably indicates that the mother needs some psychological help. Fortunately, the husband does seem to understand the issue.

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One thing that frequently spurs on terrible in-law behavior is their adult child not taking their actions seriously. Many people hand-wave their parents’ behavior or, even worse, take their side in situations like this. Imagine being this woman with a husband who refused to listen to you or, again, even worse, voluntarily handed over bank and investment account passwords to their mother. Regardless, this woman’s actions are, at “worst” just a bit of a prank, and at best something to make her MIL’s unhealthy snooping an issue for her.

Netizens shared some of their own ideas

While some had similar experiences

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