Woman Sparks Heated Debate After Removing Former Sister-in-Law from Family’s Shared Spotify Account

A woman turned to the Reddit community for advice after a small issue with a Spotify account caused a big family conflict.

She explained that she and her husband recently got married and were “merging our finances,” which included reviewing all their subscriptions.

When they looked at her husband’s family Spotify plan, she noticed a problem: “We realized that my husband’s brother’s ex-wife is still on his Family Spotify Plan. Because she is, we can’t add me.”

The plan had been in place for years. “My husband started the family plan about six years ago for himself and his two older brothers,” she writes. It allowed four accounts, and since one brother was married at the time, the final slot went to the middle brother’s wife.

For years, it seemed fair. “At the time, this made perfect sense. They all saved some money, the middle brother was the only one with a spouse, and although my husband and I had been together for about a year, I was about to start grad school, so I could still get student pricing,” she explains.

Now things have changed. The couple is married, she’s no longer in school, and her husband’s brother finalized his divorce about a year and a half ago. “We can easily afford to keep my separate Spotify, but we also realized the ex never paid my husband back when the plan renewed this year,” she adds.

Because of that, the couple decided it made sense to remove the ex-wife and add her to the plan. Her husband deactivated the ex’s account, linked hers instead, and sent a text to his brother, but they didn’t contact the ex directly.

“We didn’t text her directly because she became extremely volatile during their divorce, so the brother asked our whole family not to contact her directly so all communication could flow through a moderated messaging app recommended by their lawyers,” she explains.

Still, the change caused tension. The middle brother became upset, saying the ex would be triggered by the switch. “The middle brother is mad at us because he feels like we’re forcing him to have another fight with his ex just so we could save a buck,” she says.

The poster admits he has a point. “It’s true that she will definitely be set off by this,” she adds. He also believes the ex-wife still has a claim to the account.

According to him, she “deserves” to stay on the plan because they were together longer than she and her husband. But the couple thinks the arrangement is unfair.

Not everyone agrees with the middle brother. The eldest sibling supports their decision, saying it isn’t reasonable for an ex to stay “on their family plan forever just to avoid a conflict, it’s healthier to sever these last ties.”

The oldest brother also points out that because she chose to leave the marriage, she gave up the benefits that came with it. As the woman recalls him saying, “she chose to leave the family (divorce was her call) so she gave up any family-related benefits.” He believes it’s natural for the poster to be added now that she is married.

This disagreement has split the family. One brother wants to protect the ex-wife’s feelings, while the other thinks it’s healthier to move on. At the center is whether the woman is wrong for asking to join the plan.

Reddit users shared their opinions, mostly siding with her. One commenter said the ex wasn’t even paying anymore: “She wasn’t paying for the plan sooooo she shouldn’t be on it.”

Another commenter suggested they didn’t owe her an explanation at all: “I wouldn’t even inform her about the change; let her find out on her own.” They added that if she gets upset, the brother can simply say, “It’s a family plan, she’s no longer family.”

Despite support online, the situation is still tricky for the family. But the poster believes, “there are logical reasons for me to join the plan now.”