My Ex Wanted to Skip Child Support for a European Vacation—So I Gave Him a Suitcase He’ll Never Forget

I (36F) have been divorced from my ex-husband (38M) for four years. We share an eight-year-old daughter, Lily, who primarily lives with me. Our divorce agreement states that he pays $850 a month in child support and has visitation every other weekend.

Mark—let’s call him that—has always been… difficult. During our marriage, he’d blow money on impulse buys while I was the one balancing the budget. That pattern hasn’t changed. He remarried last year to Jessica (29F), who seems pleasant enough but definitely enjoys a more glamorous lifestyle.

Last month, Mark called me out of the blue asking if we could “work something out” with the child support. Naturally, I thought something serious had happened—job loss, medical bills, something legitimate.

Instead, he casually told me he wanted to pause his payments for five months so he could fund a lavish European vacation with his new wife.