I’m 17, still in school, and working a part-time job. My parents recently gave me a monthly payment plan to “pay them back” for raising me—covering costs like food, shelter, and general care. On top of already giving them part of my paycheck, this new demand is way more than I can afford. I feel trapped and unsure if I’ll ever be able to move out.
They insist it’s their right and that I agreed to it years ago, though I don’t remember that. Can they legally force me to do this?
Your parents are completely in the wrong.
Parents do not get to charge their minor children a bill for raising them. Food, shelter, clothing, and basic care are not optional services that a child “owes” repayment for later. Those are the legal and moral responsibilities of being a parent. When adults decide to have a child, they are signing up to provide those things. It is not a loan.
You are 17. You are still a minor. In most places, your parents are legally required to support you until you reach adulthood. Trying to force a payment plan on a teenager to reimburse them for basic parenting crosses the line from normal household expectations into something deeply inappropriate.
There is nothing wrong with parents teaching responsibility. Asking a teenager to save money, contribute modestly to shared expenses once they are an adult, or learn budgeting can be healthy. But sending your own child a bill for the cost of raising them is not teaching responsibility. It is shifting the burden of their choices onto you.
And the idea that you “agreed to this years ago” when you were a child doesn’t make it legitimate. Kids cannot meaningfully consent to financial agreements with their parents about being repaid for their own upbringing.
You should not feel guilty for questioning this. What they’re asking is unreasonable.
If you feel trapped, it may be worth talking to a trusted adult outside your home—a school counselor, teacher, relative, or another responsible adult—so you have someone who understands what’s happening and can help you think through your options.
None of this is your debt. The responsibility for raising you belongs to the people who chose to become your parents, not to the kid they raised.