24 Petty Grievances Witnessed by Family Court Lawyers

‘Paid $2000 of his wife’s attorney’s fees in pennies’
24 Petty Grievances Witnessed by Family Court Lawyers

Legal proceedings bring out the worst in people. Case in point: One Redditor remembers a client who included “a chunk of pork in the freezer” among her list of assets during divorce proceedings, which in addition to being extremely petty, is a level of porcine loyalty most of us can’t relate to. 

Other clerks and attorneys have weighed in on the wildest antics and pettiest grievances they’ve witnessed in family court, and it all gets dark fast, like with the incredibly bleak argument two parents had over their dying child’s last wish.

bestjakeisbest 7y ago guy was married to a woman who fucked another guy, had that other guy's baby, and never told the husband, then for other reasons they start divorce proceedings, a paternity test is done, the husband finds out the kid isnt his, and the courts rule that he still has to pay child support, because it is in the best interests of the kid. 8.1K ...
pumpkin_lord . 7y ago I'm am accountant not a divorce lawyer. Had a client hide Ziploc bags of ground meat throughout the house (in air vents, the attic, behind water heater etc.) I think it was at least 20-30 bags that took months to find all of them. 9.3K ...
jcb193 0 7y ago . Edited 7y ago My ex-wife gave me all my Blu-Rays back, which was nice. A year later I realized she had removed one disc from each of the Trilogy box sets.
msc2436 10y ago I had a couple arguing for three hours over who got the kids on Christmas day, only to discover at the end that they were both Jewish. I had another woman who said that her husband drained $60K from their community bank account to pay for a sex change operation that he never told her he was planning to do. 1.1K ...
SlipperyDickeryDock 10y ago I was a clerk for a law firm in Marin County. The husband grew weed in the house. The town was supportive and even let him redo his electrical panel to accommodate his crop. Long story short, in the divorce, she demanded half of the weed proceeds. Today it doesn't seem like a big deal, but 12 years ago I was shocked to see that in a court document. 2K ...
 9y ago I once represented a client from a divorcing couple who still lived together pending the sale of the family home but would not speak to one another for any reason whatsoever. Had to negotiate terms with opposing counsel for the sharing of refrigerator space. 3.5K ...
MissSara13 9y ago I worked for a law firm while in college and we had a client who had just come home from a two week vacation with his wife only to be served with divorce papers and a temporary restraining order as soon as they pulled in the driveway. Wife didn't say a word and just went into their house. Poor guy came straight to our office and was massively confused, to say the least. 939 ...
JournalofFailure 9y ago The husband's statement of property listed all the food in the kitchen as of the date of separation, complete with estimated values for each item. (Campbell's vegetable soup - $0.79) 807 ...
lawschoollorax 10y ago Our case fell apart over a massage chair. They had two kids. Couldn't let go of the damn chair. 2.4K ...
abyg9 7y ago The ex-husband didn't want to pay what he owed his ex-wife. Не thought he could fuck her over by dragging on the process with appeals. Не was not only hurting her but also his children. She desperately needed the money, and he knew that. Him dragging the process caused her to lose her job and have to move back with her parents. But once he paid she not only moved out, but bought a house, no not just like applied for a loan and got a house.. straight out paid cash for a full house. In the
 7y ago Colleague once was in on a huge, multi- hour fight over a lawn mower, both sides lawered up. Probably could buy 10 lawnmowers for what they paid fighting over this one lawn mower over hours and hours at $150/$250 per hour PER SPOUSE. The negotiation must have been taking place at their home, because at one point she took a break from all the screaming to go to smoke or something and saw said lawn mower, a beat up manual push mower with spinning blades that had sentimental value. Idiots. 110 ...
ammjh 10y ago 0 Edited 10y ago Took the couple two hours to decide who would get the groceries left in the fridge. Estimated value of the groceries was around $40. Two hours of my time, opposing counsel time, and mediator time added up to about $1,000. It all came down to a Costco/Sam's Club sized jar of peanut butter. (Who keeps peanut butter in the fridge?!) 2.7K ...
misswrenbird 7y ago When my parents divorced, I was four at the time, my dad told my mom he didn't want custody as long as he could keep their CD collection. That was until he realized how much he would have to pay in child support. Не had me two days a week until I showed my court appointed councilor how to tell if you had poured a full shot of whiskey. I don't have much memory of this but he apparently would take me to happy hour at a local bar and then to pawn shops to look at
JournalofFailure 7y ago The interim court order said that my client (the mom) was not to discuss the court proceedings with the child. During an access visit the child asked her when will I get to see you again? and my client responded, we'll have to see, but hopefully soon. The father then argued that this was discussing the court proceedings with the child and tried using it as an excuse to deny any further access. 13K ...
sassycas12 7y ago As an intern in law school I saw a case where the father was likely going to get an unfavorable custody and support arrangement so he claimed the mother was unfit. His basis? She's into Kinky sex and has a new boyfriend. Не insisted on telling the court specifically what she likes in bed even though he admitted that the children never saw or were subjected to any of these sexual acts. Не did it just to embarrass the mother 480 ...
ses4j . 7y ago 00 An opposing party had to pay $2000 in attorney's fees to his wife's lawyer, and he brought it to the office in pennies. 139 ...
Liver_Aloan 7y ago When I was in law school I worked on a case involving the parents of a victim of Sandy Hook. (They were divorced prior to losing their child but were still fighting over child support several years later.) They were fighting over who got to keep the victim's compensation fund proceeds for the death of their 6 year old. They were insanely rich, so it wasn't about the money, it was about getting a win over their former spouse. It wasnt so much petty that they were fighting over it, but the way they were fighting over
 7y ago In my divorce I gave my ex everything of value and moved in with a friend. During the year long divorce I rescued a puppy. On the last trip to mediation with the lawyers she tells me she wants the dog. My lawyer shook his head and said That's not going to happen. and she immediately got up and left. On the last court day she didn't even show up so the judge told me I could have whatever I wanted. I kept the dog and never spoke to her again. 160 ...
RegularLegsBabyLegs 7y ago As an intern, I saw a couple have long, hateful emails about who was going to keep a unisex Armani hoodie. Almost all of their discussions centered on that one hoodie. When in the end the husband got to keep it, the wife cut holes into it which ruined it. It was pretty nice tbh 9.2K ...
peevishness 7y ago Edited 7y ago Worked in an attorney's office for a little bit. Knew about a divorce case one of the attorneys was involved in where the child had been diagnosed with a terminal disease with maybe a few years left and the parents tried to fight over what the child's wish should be for one of those Make-A-Wish type of foundations. I do know the judge chewed both parents a new one when this issue came up, but ultimately could not make a call on how the wish would be granted. I believe the child ending up
RipleyAugust 7y ago Family law legal assistant here: A client of ours included a chunk of pork in the freezer in her list of assets that she insisted she get back. The lawyer on the other side came back with Respectfully, I'm not going to argue over second hand meat in a freezer 4.9K ...
odnadevotchka 7y ago Worked in a law firm dealing in family matters. Couple hammers out a separation agreement over months of meetings, mediation, letters and drafts back and forth. Ended up having to take it to court because they couldn't agree on who would get the air miles. The fucking air miles 437 ...
pretzel_logic_esq 7y ago client once called me with an emergency. the emergency was that his soon to be ex wife fed the kid chef boyardee for dinner. I went to law school for this. 17K ...
stokels 7y ago My in-laws are mega into food and wine, as in they literally travel the world on food and wine tours, are part of clubs, etc. They told me about a nasty divorce where the husband was the wine aficionado, not the wife, but the wife was pissed off about getting divorced. The husband got all the wines in their extensive cellar, but before he was able to correct them, the wife soaked every bottle to remove ALL of the labels. So technically the wine was not damaged, but the husband had no way to know what he

Tags:

Scroll down for the next article
Forgot Password?