Man Furious After Father Hands Business to Brother-in-Law

A man turns to the Reddit community for support following a dramatic family fallout that began when his father gave away the family business he had dedicated nearly two decades of his life to. 

The 32-year-old explains in his post that after being passed over in favor of his brother-in-law, he cut off his family entirely and launched a rival business that is now thriving while his father’s shop crumbles.

“I’m 32 and I’ve been working at my dad’s car repair shop for 17 years now, since I was 15,” he writes. The shop had always been presented as his future, and in recent years, he had been running “basically everything” while his father remained the face of the business.

The man describes how life changed four months ago at his father’s 60th birthday party, when extended family gathered to celebrate. “He announced that he’s stepping down and retiring and handing over the business not to me but to my d— brother-in-law, who literally never worked a day in the business,” the post explains.

He says his father told him to “show him around and teach him everything I know,” despite his brother-in-law having no experience in the industry. When the man asked about his own role or if he would receive any share of the business, his father reportedly confirmed he would not.

His father explained that the decision was about protecting his daughter’s future, telling him he wanted his “only daughter left to be secure and to not worry about the future.” The man was devastated, especially after learning his new role came with a demotion and a $15,000 pay cut.

“I got mad and yelled at dad that he’s a lying b——,” he recalls. “He said that all the paperwork was already done and that the business is now 100% my brother-in-law’s and told me to take it and shut up.”

After walking out, he immediately began working toward opening his own shop, relying on the industry connections he had nurtured for years. “I had enough savings to start a new rival business and so I did,” he shares, adding that most of his former colleagues joined him.

He also began contacting the customers he had maintained relationships with, and many chose to follow him to his new shop. The post continues, “I started making calls to our customers and slowly I’ve been taking them away.”

Meanwhile, his father’s business quickly began to decline. “My dad and family are all furious with me… I don’t care,” he says bluntly, pointing out that his brother-in-law “has no clue what he’s doing” and the shop has been struggling without him.

According to the man, the situation grew so bad that his father had to come out of retirement and work on cars himself, something he hadn’t done in a decade. “They don’t have the cash flow to bring new guys in,” he adds, saying he took most of the employees with him.

Recently, his father reached out to him, sounding “old and tired as hell” and begged him to return. “He said the business is failing bad and that it’s his and my legacy and I just said good, I want them to suffer and I want that business to go bankrupt and die,” the man admits.

He reminds his father that for years he worked unpaid months and sacrificed personal opportunities in order to grow the family shop, all under the belief it would one day be his. “He told me that thousands of times,” he explains, only to now see that promise broken.

His father reportedly lashed out, screaming at him on the phone, but the man says he simply hung up. Since then, his sister has been calling him “every name in the book,” but he remains unmoved.

His own new business, meanwhile, has exceeded expectations. Despite bringing on additional staff, he claims he’s had to start turning away potential customers because of how busy they are.

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The only thing he says he is grateful for from his father is the experience that allowed him to succeed on his own. “When I started my own [shop,] I knew exactly what I was doing,” he adds.

Still, the man admits a small part of him struggles with guilt when he thinks about the legacy his father built. “I remember as a kid watching him open his shop alone after working for someone else and I remember him putting his entire life into it,” he recalls. It’s left him to wonder, “Was I too harsh and should I have reacted differently?” 

Many commenters rally behind him, with one response summing it up: “Your dad didn’t just hand the business to someone else, he disrespected nearly two decades of your loyalty and work. You owe them nothing, you built your own shop, and that’s your legacy now.”