WIBU, Bruce, Arabella, DP...?

[EstoyRobandoSuCasa]

I know what I think, but...

Sorry, this is long.

Annabel and Bruce are old friends of DP's. When he first met them more than 20 years ago, they were married and living in a run-down house in an unfashionable city neighbourhood. Annabel has a great career and was the higher earner, whereas Bruce worked in a trade and also made many improvements to the house.

After a few years, Annabel got tired of Bruce, divorced him and bought him out of the house. Bruce didn't want to divorce or leave the house, but he couldn't have afforded to buy Annabel out. So he moved back to the country he was born in and started a new life. DP stayed in touch with him as he visits the UK every year or two with his second wife, Sheila.

At Christmas, Bruce and Sheila came to the UK to visit relatives and we had dinner together one evening. DP mentioned that Annabel had recently sold the house and moved to a coastal village about a hundred miles away. I didn't think anything of this comment at the time; it was just making conversation.

Three days ago, DP got an irate phone call from Annabel. She was furious with him for telling Bruce that she'd sold the house. Apparently, Bruce had looked up the asking price. It's value had rocketed in recent years, not just due to the general craziness of the UK property market, but because that particular neighbourhood had become much more desirable. Bruce then contacted Annabel to demand a share of the profit from the sale. I'm not sure what his reasoning was exactly, but they had a heated argument and Annabel told him to eff off.

WIBU?

Bruce is unreasonable for thinking he gets a second bite of the cherry. Annabel is understandably pissed off but is shooting the messenger.

Where does Arabella fit into this creative writing story?

Just what I was wondering...

Dammit, I'm forced to admit that Annabel, Bruce and Sheila are not their real names. But yes this happened, and DP was quite taken aback by it.

Why was you DH discussing the ex wife in front of the new wife? And if a divorce settlement was agreed Bruce hasn't got hope in hell. He's a cheeky fecker.

It's Annabel actually.

Bruce sounds like a twat.

Annabel is fairly posh, but I decided that Arabella was too posh a pseudonym for her.

Bruce is normally pretty nice, as is Sheila. I've met them a few times. Neither of them reacted oddly to the house comment at dinner.

Bruce was paid for his share of the "investment" and it stopped being his at that point. Of course he has no claim whatsoever to it.

Regardless of when or whether it was sold, surely he must have grasped that house prices would have increased since then?

But Annabel is BU to blame your DH for the fact that Bruce found out it was sold. Unless there was some weird agreement between them about profits on the sale which she was trying to keep hidden from him? Very strange (and unlikely).

While I hate the expression, “first post nails it”, in this case, the first post really does say it all. Brucie hasn’t a legal leg to stand on assuming the initial buy out was all legally carried out. Annabel shouldn’t even engage with Bruce.

(also wondering if Bruce and Sheila are Australian! Otherwise..interesting names you’ve come up with)

You may be right about Bruce and Sheila.

I do think Bruce is in the wrong and I'm surprised that he did this. But I do feel slightly sorry for him as he was kicked out of the house he helped to renovate. He had no say in the timing.

Presumably he needed her and her income to buy the house in the first place? That's simply the risk you take when you share ownership with someone else - the benefit being you can pool your money.

Actually, I never considered that.

Your DH shouldn't have mentioned this as it was really none of his business and not his news to share.

Bruce is mad and has no claim to the profits.