My son is 15. Custody is week on, week off. Halfway through last week, he vented to me for about an hour about the insanity he deals with at his mom's. I'm not an expert, but I think it's probably emotional abuse levels. My lawyer said to get my kiddo into therapy, if for no other reason, that the issues can be documented by a third party.

Yesterday he was supposed to go to his mom's for her custody week. As we were arriving at her house, he asked me to keep driving and not turn in. I kept driving and waited for him to explain.

He said he didn't want to return to her house. I had previously spoken with my lawyer about how to handle this type of situation if it were to occur. I told my son to text his mom and tell her he wasn't coming over and that if she had questions, she could call me.

She replied to his text telling him to call. He refused. She called him and he put it on speaker phone. It was soul crushing experience to hear a 40 year old mother have zero situational awareness. The entire conversation was "I cooked you dinner, you owe me" and "the courts have told you that you have to come here, you and dad will get in legal trouble" and so much more.

My son silently cried as he listened to his mom not ask the real questions. Why does he feel this way? What can she work on? The called ended with her saying she loves him and him hanging up with no response.

My son is the most honest, calm, carrying, personable kid I know (don't we all say that about our kids). He's not mean, or loud, or a pain in the ass. He has his little routines and life and he's very content. It hurt so much to watch him shed the toxic relationship with his mom.

A few hours later, his grandmother texted him. It was more of the same. "How could you do this to your mom? You don't know more about what is good for you than the courts do." On and on it went. I asked him how he felt about it. "It's more of the same. She didn't ask about how I feel, or why I am doing this, or how can she help. She just cares about herself and mom and I don't think she's capable listening to anything I have to say."

Now, a few facts. One, my STBXW of 16 years had an affair with my best friend. Two, I haven't spoken with anyone in my wife's family in about 15 years.

It's taking everything I have to not text my soon-to-be-ex-mother-in-law and tell her that her grandson is in this position for one reason. Her daughter made hundreds of decisions to have a months long affair with my best friend. She threw a hand grenade into my son's life and walked away.

/vent, thanks for listening.