Counting the Cost

Jill and Derick receive news from IMB that they can no longer wait for Jill to be formally released from her contract. They are both devastated to have lost the job. Jill is angry that her father refused to send her the whole contract. Jim Bob later clarifies that the contract is about to expire. If he had provided this information earlier, Jill and Derick might have been able to work for IMB after all. Derick begins law school and gets into trouble over bigoted comments he makes on Twitter. Jim Bob offers help, but Jill refuses, not wanting her father to meddle in her life anymore. She and Derick write an angry, 27-page letter to Jim Bob. He sends a brief response apologizing for hurting them and asking for forgiveness. He does not answer any of the questions posed in the letter.

Jill receives a letter from the IRS about her taxes, which Chad and Jim Bob have always filed. She learns her income was reported as $130,000 a year from the show for the past 10 years. In reality, Jill only ever received the one-time payment of $80,000. When Jill confronts her father about this, they fight and then stop speaking for several months.