Dont you find you Brother in law cribbing about money within 1 month of his marriage and making your sister unhappy and as you put it, literally torturing her over finances a bit strange.
I mean all this in a month? Really.
Your father is very well off, how much do you think he will put in to see your sister happy and where will that money ultimately flow to?
Just think.
Please, this is not to be offensive to your BiL.
PS: i doubt your sister even knows how much her husband makes.
It is indeed strange. I always knew that my dad was more well off compared to investments compared to their family. For us we were mostly impressed with the guys charming social skills and how polished he looked and everyone in our family was taken in by him. I and my elder brother also couldn't find any objections at the time plus my sister would happily speak to him daily for 2-3 hours on the phone at night so there were no concerns at the time
My parents come from the belief that married life is all about family background and whether the guy is of good character. Money, career prospects are not that big of a deal. For my parents the biggest plus signs were that the guy prays 5 times a day and that he had taken on the responsibility of being the eldest son and had been looking after his mother who has been suffering from terminal breast cancer for the last 15 years, so my parents especially my mom was like this is a good sign and most definitely will be just as loving and caring towards my sister
But one month after marriage the kind of anecdotes we are hearing is
- The cleaning lady who comes to their home once a month kept my sisters make up stuff somewhere else without informing anyone. My sister couldn't find it after looking everywhere for it, he starts criticizing her that she should be responsible and looking after her stuff, she says if it can't be found she will have to buy it from the market, he starts going off you are financially irresponsible and careless
- She tries to help out around the house and kitchen as much as she can, he criticizes her efficiency and comments did your parents not teach you these things, what the hell did you do your whole life? I refuse to believe that she isn't good in the kitchen because she does a very good job cleaning the living room, house, dishes at our place and she is a lot faster, efficient than I am
- He and her brothers joke around and made fun of her cooking once
- His parents deliberately make her not do the dishes after dinner even if she volunteers to do it. He admonishes her later on, that my parents are old, don't make them do the dishes, you do all of them
- She naturally misses her parents, home and once he erupted and was told her, this is what you signed up for
- She was once upset and crying at night and he totally lost it and was like "I have to go to work tommorow, I need to sleep". This I can perhaps give him the benefit of the doubt and sympathize with
- He is constantly cribbing about her immaturity, carelessness.
I am sure they don't fight and argue all the time and that these are just perhaps isolated incidents. My mom for now is siding with her son in law because she knows my sister is very emotional, sensitive and perhaps maybe her being upset, emotional all the time especially at night perhaps is driving him crazy especially considering he is starting a new job, has the stress of unwell parents to deal with
All I know is she was dying to come home and visit us and she looked very relaxed, normal but the night before her flight, she was lying down next to mom at night and she out of the blue started sobbing and was like he again criticized her spending habits and that she was financially irresponsible. Now I observed my sister for the one week she was in Canada and she didn't even buy anything extravagant, she mostly went out to meet her friends for coffee, lunch but like c'mon man, how expensive are those expenses?
Anyways she was sobbing and crying with mom "He just married me for my face, he didn't care or give a damn whether I was going to be compatible with him or not, he should have married someone more compatible for him, I am trying really hard to change and adapt but it is now getting really tiring and frustrating for me, I don't want to go back, I want to cancel my ticket". Mom Ofcourse comforted her and she was fine in the morning, when I asked her briefly she was like it's no big deal, she will sort it out with him etc.
For me. What I am just realizing is that there is indeed merit in girls parents demanding that the guy be financially secure, settled and even with a place of his own. Also perhaps there is indeed a big risk when there is a big age gap bw husband and wife. Lastly a big risk that the initial impression created before marriage can be misleading