The vast majority of people don’t just exist in a vacuum. So one way or another, you often end up having to deal with your partner’s family. Unfortunately, some people have families straight out of our worst nightmares.

A man turned to the internet to vent after his entitled, hoarder MIL went too far when she stole his vintage skeleton key collection. Despite its four-figure value, she pawned it off for a bit of cash to get a new phone. The entire saga was so large that he had to split the tale in two. People share their thoughts, advice, and experiences.

While many people don’t care for their in-laws, it’s generally not because of criminal behavior

Image credits: Shaiith / evanto (not the actual photo)

But one man discovered that his MIL had robbed his home

Image credits: Alena Darmel / pexels (not the actual photo)

Image source: MyKeysWereStolen

OP shared a dramatic part two of the story

Image credits: Rosemary Ketchum / pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Alena Darmel / pexels (not the actual photo)

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Image source: MyKeysWereStolen

Good boundaries are necessary for a healthy relationship

Image credits: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Generally, people’s dislike of their in-laws comes down to competition for attention, unclear boundaries, and some good, old-fashioned passive aggression. Interestingly, women tend to suffer more stress around their in-laws than men, as one study found that, on average, women visiting their in-laws report 16% more discomfort than their male counterparts.

This is, interestingly, often a result of the MIL insisting on “teaching” them how to be better mothers and wives for their precious children. However, OP’s story is far from typical. Generally, arguments and disagreements with in-laws focus on smaller details and expectations. For example, the eternal question of where to have holiday celebrations and the frequency of visits.

At the end of the day, most of us don’t expect literal crimes as a result of interacting with an in-law. To this degree, OP’s experience is, for better or worse, quite unique. What makes this situation particularly difficult and volatile is the fact that his wife seems to have picked a side. He himself has stated that she enables this nightmare-MIL, but who could have expected that it would be this bad?

People are often negatively predisposed towards their in-laws

In a pretty unsurprising turn, most people already know that problematic in-laws can cause issues down the line, even if they haven’t done anything bad yet. This often manifests as a worsening of the quality of a relationship. After all, the realization that it might not, indeed, be you and your partner against the world can cause some degree of stress.

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Complaining about one’s in-laws is, at this point, so cliche that it won’t even survive the first draft of a comedy movie. Indeed, there is some evidence that this practice goes all the way back to the ancient world, where playwrights and other people dabbling in comedy would make “mother-in-law” jokes.

However, this is a classic “bad” MIL turned up to eleven. Normally, boundaries are an issue with your partner’s family, but theft is a whole new ballgame. While we can’t exactly know the MIL’s motives, it does look like she isn’t a casual, routine thief. There is a solid chance she stole from OP precisely because she didn’t think it was stealing. Instead, as a cosmically deluded person, she probably sincerely believed that she had every right to take these items.

Hopefully, this experience will serve as a warning

Image credits: Nik Shuliahin / unsplash (not the actual photo)

This is perhaps the (very sizable) straw that broke the camel’s back. OP’s MIL could be crazy, but if they simply went no contact, that would be enough. Instead, it would appear that his wife isn’t willing to actually create the boundaries that they need to move forward. He has already described her as an enabler which means that he disapproves of her behavior, but hasn’t taken steps to actually limit it.

As we can see in the story’s conclusion, this was ultimately not a resolvable issue. To perhaps try and show some silver lining, at least it was only a few thousand dollars worth of items stolen. Given the fact that the wife seems unwilling to face reality, it’s not clear how far this MIL would go if she felt like it. Best to get out of this situation with one’s life still somewhat intact.

OP shared some more thoughts in the comments

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Other readers gave some advice and suggestions

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