Random Divorce Lawyers And Legal Industry Employees Describe Nastiest Cases (19 items)

• (#9) He Didn't Want To Give Her $3,000 - And Ended Up Paying $60,000

  From Redditor /u/toml3030:

  I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked for a lawyer who worked divorces. This was his favorite case.

  Guy was making $150K a year, [marries a Thai woman], has three kids. Dude has an affair... and initiates a divorce. The woman's only priority is to have custody of the kids, so against her attorney's advice, she's willing to take a deal where she takes a car and gets $1200 in child support, no spousal support, and $3,000 lump sum from their joint account so she can rent an apartment (there's ZERO chance that he actually wants custody of the children because he's already shacked up with the girl he's having an affair with).

  She wanted full custody so bad that she was willing to live with three kids in a modest [two bedroom] apartment and pull the kids out of expensive extra curricular activities they were doing to economize, as well as getting a crappy survival type of job after being nothing but a housewife since coming to US. One of the kids has some talent in an Olympics event, to the level where she was getting professional coaching lessons.

  The husband takes it to the front of the judge against the advice of his own attorney, who tells him that he's nuts to turn this down, because he doesn't want to give her $3K, and he figures the judge will decide between what she wants and what he wants, not realizing that there's a formula based on income judges use to determine child support payments.

  At the court, the judge awards the wife the $3K lump sum and $1700 child support... FOR EACH KID. So because he didn't want to give his ex wife $3K so his kids could have a place to live, about 50% of his take home pay is going to his ex for the next 10+ years.

  The attorney I worked with was a hardass about money and never did anything for free, but this was the one case where he represented the woman for just a nominal fee.
• (#8) He Used Her Pension To Buy Alcohol

  From Redditor /u/LaulauJ2017:

  Used to be a secretary for a family law solicitor.

  Had this one divorce case where the wife was a teacher of 30+ years and had a very nice pension. In the divorce settlement it was decided somehow that the pension would be considered as a marital asset and the husband was entitled to 40%. He wanted the money right away and so she had to cash in her pension so to speak and had to have a reduced amount. The husband ended up getting around £20,000.00 (approximately $25,000).

  He was an alcoholic, wasted the money and drank himself to death within two years of receiving the money.
• (#13) They Spent Thousands Of Dollars In Legal Fees - Over A Picture

  From Redditor /u/Stebes30:

  I'm not a lawyer but a law student. Worked for a firm over the summer and one of the lawyers worked a divorce case that he knows as the "Praying hands" case.

  Divorce is all but finalized, but by the hand of God, there a couple more issues to deal with. One of them was a picture of praying hands with a rosary around it. Apparently the divorce was pretty messy and it all just culminated over this picture. Each client paid their lawyer hourly (hundreds of dollars) rates to try to figure out who got this one, essentially worthless picture. Like you could get this thing at any Christian bookstore or whatever.

  But this apparently went on for over a day. Just two lawyers arguing and negotiating over a worthless picture where they both know it is purely out of spite and a waste of their time. I guess you don't bite the hand that feeds though...
• (#10) She Ruined Her Relationship With Her Daughter Forever

  From Redditor /u/CptRobBob:

  Not a divorce attorney but I clerked for a judge that handled divorce cases. We had a couple that were both lieutenant colonels in the Air Force. They had one daughter that was about 11 or 12. Both had graduate degrees and were generally intelligent people.

  Well the husband had an affair and things went sour with the relationship. The daughter was at that age when her relationship with the mother was starting to get a little strained and she mentioned how she wanted to stick with her dad because he was about to be stationed elsewhere and the parents would be going their separate ways.

  The mother absolutely freaked. The first thing she did was go to the local police department and claim the father had been sexually assaulting the daughter. They investigated and couldn't find any evidence so they dropped the case. The mother, still furious, then goes to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and reports the same thing. The Air Force then suspends the husband from duty and conducts their own investigation.

  They reach the same conclusion that there was no evidence of wrongdoing, and they dropped the case. The mother then goes to the next state over where the husband is about to be transferred and contacts the local police there with the same story about [...] assault. They of course do their own investigation but same result, case is dropped

  Of course this whole time the daughter has been interviewed a dozen times by psychologists, various therapists, the police, the Air Force, and who knows else. The daughter is straight up traumatized by this. People constantly asking her if her dad had been [hurting] her. Not to mention the harm it did to her father's career. He was basically screwed from any possible promotion just because of the allegations. As well as the fact that infidelity in the military is a big no no. But that was his own doing.

  Well once word of all this gets back to the judge he is furious. He's a former Air Force Jag and still has contacts in the ranks. Well anyway the couple comes in front of him one day for a hearing and he outright tells her she better stop this behavior or he's going to hold her in contempt of court for the maximum amount of time he can lawfully hold her in a cell, contact the DA and recommend the filing of charges, contact her Air Force superiors and recommend reprimand to the fullest extent possible, and basically anything and everything he can do within his power.

  It was one of the most messed up things I've seen during my relatively short experience in the legal world.

  Edit: For those of you freaking out because she received no consequences: She lost any hope for a relationship with her daughter, possibly for the rest of her life. Her Air Force career was over. And last I heard the DA's office was looking into possible charges. I don't know what happened with that because I left soon after all of this happened. The judge in this situation didn't have much authority outside the divorce itself. He can make recommendations and suggestions to the DA and Air Force, but has no power to bring charges. The most he can do is put her in contempt of court.
• (#15) A Spouse Had To Drive Over A Hundred Miles Away To See A Lawyer

  From Redditor /u/moondogrm:

  The most vicious yet strategic thing I've seen is going for a consultation at every lawyer within a hundred kilometer radius, which forced the spouse to go to the nearest major city to get an attorney. All the other attorneys would have a conflict of interest because of the previous consultation. The spouse ended up paying out the [butt] for representation and had to drive over an hour for any meetings, which means they had to take days off every time they had a meeting
• (#3) A Conspiracy Theory Cost Her Over A Million Dollars

  From Redditor /u/Tchaikovsky08:

  Worked at a law firm that was subpoenaed as part of a divorce between a partner at the firm and a partner at another major law firm.

  The woman issued more than 70 subpoenas to banks, firms, investment companies - you name it - because she was convinced he had squirreled away $20+ million overseas behind her back. It got so bad that she dug up receipts from 25 years ago to try to put together this grand conspiracy puzzle.

  In the end, after she racked up $1.5 million in legal fees and 7 different lawyers, the judge said this sh*t is ridiculous --= there was no conspiracy, and you are not entitled to a portion of this phantom $20 million.

  Mind you: this was a major law firm partner who was acting this way. She made millions per year in her career. But she apparently lost her mind.

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