Dear Prudence,
My parents are retired and recently sold their home to move into a condo. Today I opened my mail to find a bill to have a door frame molding completely redone for $1,200. I contacted the company to explain there had been a mistake; they had never done any work for me. The person I spoke with gave my mother’s name and asked if I was her son. When I replied that I was, they said there had been no mistake because my mother had listed me as the responsible party when she had the work done prior to selling the house.
When I called my mother to ask what would possess her to have a door frame charged to me, she asked if I remembered the time I had dented it with my hockey stick. After a moment, I recalled that I had accidentally hit the frame with a hockey stick when I was leaving for practice and put a dent in it (my mother screamed me stupid at the time and grounded me for a month). But this happened when I was 10 years old—I’m 33 and married with two kids now! I told her there was no way I was paying for something that happened when I was in elementary school. She responded that she would see me in court.
Trying to get my dad to talk sense into her will go nowhere, as he is scared shitless of my mom. My wife says it will be a cold day in Hell before we plunk down $1,200 for something that happened when I was a kid. I agree, but do you see any way we can avoid a legal fight over this?