Pay Dirt

Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Oleksandr Sytnyk/iStock/Getty Images Plus.

Our advice columnists have heard it all over the years—so we’re diving into the Pay Dirt archives to share classic letters with our readers. Submit your own questions about money here . (It’s anonymous!)

Dear Pay Dirt,

How do I figure out whether I’m safe accepting a bribe? When I was 13, my parents had a horrifically bad divorce and put me right in the middle of it. My dad had an affair, my mom filed the papers, and my dad proceeded to tell me in great detail about all the ways my mom didn’t meet his sexual needs that my now-stepmom did.

My dad is independently wealthy, my mom has very little and the money aspect of the divorce dragged on for years. My mom proceeded to use me as a messenger for the rest of the divorce, which was awful in its own way. Neither of them ever apologized.

At 18, I moved states away and stayed there.…