Man throws an “end of entertainment” party for his brother in Las Vegas; “It was tasteless.” AITA?

By Linda Barrett On Jan 4, 2024

“AITA for throwing my brother an end of maintenance party?”

My older brother and his ex had a difficult marriage before eventually getting divorced. To be honest, there were enough mistakes on both sides for no one to claim the lead. Since his income was many times higher than hers, the court awarded her maintenance.

Luckily, they were married for less than ten years, so he only had to pay her support for half the years they were married. His final payment to her will be this month, so the boys and I are planning an end-of-support party for him.

We are planning a week long stay in Vegas at the Wynn and will contribute to fully cover his portion. Since we're planning on traveling at the end of the month and have about a dozen people with us, we've been texting and talking to coordinate the trip.

When the trip was first planned I told my friend and she wasn't happy about it. She wasn't mad that we were having a guys trip because we've had separate vacations before without any problems. She was unhappy with the topic and said it was in bad taste.

I disagree and we discussed it until we agreed to disagree. On Friday she was using my phone to watch her shows and one of the guys sent a picture he had designed for a shirt we wanted made for him.

The core of the design is that he is freed from alimony payments and can afford to eat again with some graphics. It was in a group text and the other guys wrote their clear approval. This sent my girlfriend into a rage I've never experienced before.

We got into a heated argument that lasted the entire weekend. We even had to cancel dinner plans with some friends. I thought our argument was coming to an end, but this morning as we were getting ready for work, she gave me the silent treatment and completely ignored my questions.

Basically, she wants me to cancel the trip and admit that we are terrible people for celebrating something so painful. I don't want to cancel the trip and my brother is excited for his payments to end, so I don't see any pain.

I honestly don't know why she's so angry because this has nothing to do with her. She doesn't even know the ex since they divorced before we even met.

EDIT:

Thank you for reading my post and providing your insight. I'll answer a few questions in this edit.

My brother and his ex both worked during their marriage. He is a dentist and she is a teacher, so their income was unbalanced, which is why she was awarded maintenance.

He didn't actually starve during the maintenance years, but his lifestyle was severely affected. His monthly maintenance payments were higher than her monthly salary.

There are no children involved. They had no children together, so there is no child support.

The t-shirt graphic shows the Monopoly guy pulling both pockets out of his pants to indicate that he is out of money.

To my knowledge, my girlfriend has never met the ex and I'm not sure if she even knows the ex's name. We meet after my brother's divorce was finalized and we referred to his ex as the ex. We never used her name.

My friend's parents are divorced and that was back then. I don't know anything about her child support or alimony because she doesn't talk about it and I don't want to be pushy on a sensitive topic.

Here's what the top commenters had to say about it:

Agile-Wait-7571 said:

He fulfilled his obligation. He did it in time. Like any other financial obligation, he should celebrate its end. A student wage. A mortgage payment. NTA.

Nervous_Hippo8855 said:

If your brother wants it, then NTA. Many people have divorce parties.

Weak-Philosopher-962 said:

Nta, but remember to sign a prenuptial agreement before marrying this woman and definitely don't let her stay at home!

Crimsonwolf_83 said:

NTA and you will want an ironclad prenuptial agreement if you don't break up with her.

Select-Pie6558 said:

NTA – when my (F) friend (F) divorced her terrible husband, I gave her a divorce gift that was much happier than her wedding gift. Support your people. Have fun.

United-Manner20 said:

NTA, but this raises some pretty big red flags. Sounds like she's upset that you wouldn't be willing to pay her if you got a divorce. She can't claim girl code because this happened before she was even there and it has nothing to do with her. Enjoy your trip and rethink your relationship.