Lawyers Share the Most Chaotic Divorces They’ve Ever Seen
Not all marriages are successful, with statistics showing that 40% to 50% of marriages in the United States end in divorce. When divorce does happen, it’s often a messy process, especially when dealing with assets, custody, or property.
Lawyers, accountants, and family often witness the chaos all the way from the living room to the court room. Reddit users share stories of some of the most outrageous divorces they have witnessed, painting a disturbing picture of the aftermath of failed marriages.
Splitting Her Winnings
Not a lawyer, but my husband’s uncle (they’re close to the same age) was going through a divorce. It was messy and he got completely blindsided, but it’s still kind of a funny story.
Anyway, his wife had just packed up her stuff and their kids and moved out one day while he was at work. With no warning — she was just gone.
It came to light that a few weeks before she left, she’d won a “$5,000 per week for life” lottery ticket.
She hid it, and thought she could divorce him without splitting her winnings.
That didn’t work out very well for her.
| jader88
Dog Custody
I was in a mediation where it took the couple an hour and a half to split their personal property, retirement accounts, real property and custody of their six month old son.
The rest of the day, about four hours, was spent arguing about how to split the time with the dog.
For the kid they just put “as agreed upon by the parties” but the dog had a strict calendar working out holidays and strict pickup/drop off times.
I was ashamed to be a part of that unbelievable display.
| FattyBinz
Ashes to Ashes
Not my case, but during my first year of law school, lawyers from different practices came to give us a peek behind the curtain of different areas.
The divorce lawyer told the story of a rather well-to-do couple that spent months and months and many tens of thousands of dollars fighting over absolutely everything all the way down to a single ceramic ashtray.
He couldn’t remember the significance, but somehow it had come through the husband’s family.
Even after everything else had been decided, they spent many more months and nearly $100,000 fighting over just this ashtray. Then, after a court hearing the wife finally won the ashtray.
She promptly strode out to the white courthouse steps and smashed the ceramic ashtray. Left the pieces all over for the husband to see on his way out.
Decided that day I would not be a divorce lawyer.
| 105degrees_andrising
Heart of Ice
Divorce lawyer here. Spouse had been out of the house for weeks.
She waited until he was on a business trip, came into the house, turned on all of the faucets, plugged the drains, turned off the furnace and left. It was -10 degrees F.
He came back five days later. The house was ruined. The water froze and cracked the foundation.
| Slagathar1