A reader doing battle with 25 percent annual interest is tempted by her boyfriend’s offer of an interest-free loan, but she worries it may be inappropriate to accept.

A reader is anxious about her relationship with a 23-year-old daughter who refuses to accept the man now poised to be her stepfather.

A reader wants to shore up her brother against financial hardships, but she’s unsure how to stipulate what the money is to be used for without coming off as controlling.

Distressed by her grandson’s failure to pay for the support of his daughter, a reader wonders whether she should try to engage with him — and his absenteeism.

Years after coming to grips with her husband’s infidelity, a reader still feels an urge to make his lover suffer.

A reader who overheard a neighbor shouting cruelties at her young son wonders whether, and how, to intervene.

In the course of offering financial advice, a mother shared a personal story about her marriage with her adult daughter, who later forwarded the entire exchange to her father.

A reader is hurt by her stepson’s efforts to keep her away from his fiancée’s family, including a future in-law who dismissed her as “not blood.”