No couple ever gets married hoping they'd one day divorce, but sometimes things just don't work out the way they initially thought they would. The lucky ones go through the process smoothly and without any hiccups, but oftentimes, divorce is a whole lot messier than that. Here are som truly ridiculous divorce cases:
1. Home Sweet Home
This man wanted a divorce from his wife, and he had many good reasons—but what he cited as his “last straw” was absolutely ridiculous. It was all because his wife ate those pumpkin-shaped candy corn candies. All day while he was at work, he had been looking forward to them. But when he came home, he found out that she had eaten all of them. He just snapped. It was over.
2. The Mother of All Break-Ups
I've had a lot of younger male potential clients come in for divorce consults with their mother. Then, during the consult, the mother does 98% of the talking, and it's clear who actually wants the divorce. (I'll usually escort Mom to wait in the lobby while I talk to the son directly, and most of the time he's just there to appease his mother).
On a related note, I once had just the mother call for a consult because she explicitly said that she wanted her son to get a divorce. I politely informed her that's not how divorces worked...
3. Spread It Out
I represented one guy who was on his second marriage. He had lost his first wife to cancer. He and his kids were devastated. My client was a sensitive guy with a big heart. His second wife was charming, which was why he fell for her, but it was all a facade. Then my client met a very affectionate woman during his case.
They really hit it off and were basically engaged even though his divorce was far from over. The fiancée started having health issues and was diagnosed with a form of terminal cancer. Then the ex-wife tried to use the diagnosis against my client in court—and what she said was seriously ridiculous. Her crazy theory was that he had caused his first wife’s cancer.
She accused him of doing the same thing to his new girlfriend. The second wife's attorney refused to be a part of her theory. The attorney never addressed her argument in court and didn't even mention it during testimony. Rather, he informed the judge that his client wished to address the court directly about an issue.
The judge allowed it, and the second wife shared her wild theory adding that she was certain my client had tried to give her cancer as well. I wish I had an artist's rendering of the scene capturing the second wife's crazy eyes, her attorney’s shame and embarrassment, the judge's confusion, and my awe-inspired disgust.
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4. I Now Pronounce You Squatter and Wife
My aunt was dating this unemployed dude for a while. He was staying in her house rent-free. They got married and were getting ready to go on the honeymoon when the new husband tells her he’s not going because he has to take care of his plants at the house. Big fight. Aunt goes on the honeymoon with her sisters instead.
She comes home and tries to kick him out of her house; he refuses to leave. She tries to get the police involved. Dude is live streaming on Facebook how he is being trapped in his own home. Police tell my aunt there is basically nothing they can do. She can file for eviction after a divorce. Dude gets to live in her house with his precious plants for like three months until everything legally gets worked out.
5. Big Deal
We once worked really hard on a woman's case because her husband had gotten on a bus to Mexico with her kids. We expedited everything. I went above and beyond for the woman—contacting attorneys in south Mexico and writing out very clear instructions to get back her kids. But later, I found out the disturbing truth behind her story.
Our client had attacked her husband with a knife because he confronted her about sleeping with his brother. That was why the husband packed up and took the kids.
6. The Claws Come Out
Paralegal here. A couple got divorced over a cat. Wife called cat Snowball because of white fur and only wanted the cat to eat wet food or chicken breast. Husband called cat Lily, again, because of white fur, and believed it should only eat dry food. These two argued for a year over custody of the cat but did not give a darn about their human kids aged six, four, and 15 months.
7. At A Crossroads
My dad had a client who was a trucker and wanted to divorce his wife. The guy was in his late 40s and weighed 300 pounds. The man said that he and his wife were in an open marriage, but she refused to have another partner even though this man has multiple partners. He also casually mentioned to my dad that he was bisexual too.
But he’d wanted to make it very clear that he preferred women but slept with men regularly. He didn't give a reason though. And when my straight-edge, old-fashioned dad asked, he told him a disturbing story about his last trucking run. He was alone at a truck stop on his birthday. So, his wife arranged for a man to meet with him.
In graphic detail, the guy further explained how the man bit him and it had hurt so much that he punched him. Then he kicked him out of the truck and immediately called his wife to tell her that he wanted a divorce for hiring him someone who would do such a thing. My dad said he had to try so hard to stay professional.
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8. So Much for Being in It for the Long Haul
My 90-year-old client (the husband) and his son retained me to initiate divorce proceedings with his 88-year-old wife. They’d been married 60 years. The wife had recently taken to beating him with his own cane because their daughter poisoned her into thinking he was hiding money from them. The battle came down to husband and son versus wife and daughter.
At their first court appearance, my client showed up in an old 1950s-style pinstripe suit and fedora. He was a farmer his whole life, and this was clearly the only suit he owned. He was such a meek and lovely old gentleman. I had to pass my client onto a new lawyer midway through the proceedings because I accepted a job in a different country, but I understand the divorce was eventually granted.
9. Clip, Clop, Drop
I work with court audio, and there was a case between parents fighting over custody for their young daughter. The mother currently had primary custody while daddy had supervised visits through a third-party service. He had to prove that she could be comfortable around him, so he had an idea. He brought a pony to visit.
So, every few weeks, he forked out $600 to bring a pony for his daughter to ride and ran around filming her joy. He used the videos to prove that he should become primary custody carer. Except it totally backfired on him. He was a jerk and wasn't very good at talking to her without calling her names, which he caught on camera.
10. Leave Him to Side Hose
My aunt had a case where the wife had glued all of the outdoor hoses together so he wouldn’t spend more time washing his vehicle anymore. When the glue didn’t work, she just cut them all up. When he bought new ones, she filed for divorce.
11. Too Close To Disclose
A guy came to me because he and his girlfriend were breaking up and he wanted to sue over property that they couldn't divide including the ownership of the house where they lived. He was 50. He’d lived with his girlfriend for nearly 30 years. His “girlfriend” was 77. During our initial interview, he told me their whole story.
He’d been friends and classmates with his girlfriend's son in high school and moved in with her when she went through a difficult time after losing her husband. He was useful to her and good company. He played guitar and told funny stories. They went on vacations. He fixed things in her old house that needed attention.
As the years went by, her kids had their own kids, so at age 32, he became “grandpappy.” They had an agreement that her will would convey half of her estate to him. He’s rooting through her files one day and found that she had re-written her will and excluded him. A week later, he called me. I filed suit on his behalf. But that’s when I got a huge surprise.
The woman's lawyer sent interrogatories addressed to my client. Among other things, the interrogatories asked him to identify other intimate partners he’d had during the 30-year relationship. He didn't want to answer. I said that he had to. He exploded in a ball of hot anger and fired me. Apparently, he had a secret daughter.
She was from another relationship he had with a woman his own age. I bid him goodbye and wished him good luck.
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12. Loser By a Hair(s)
My dad was a divorce lawyer. He had a client who wanted to divorce her husband for two reasons: He did not have enough hair on his chest. He did not drive fast enough. Keep in mind this was in the 70s when chest hair was a bit more important.
13. Nefarious Nanny
My very first client after graduating from law school seemed like a normal woman from our first meeting, but she ended up being quite the nightmare. My client and her husband had two kids in their preteens. My client decided one day, totally out of the blue, that she was done with her marriage and so kicked the husband out of the house.
She did everything in her power to keep him away from their kids out of spite. At some point, she took in a teenaged homeless girl to be a full-time nanny despite the fact that she was at most two years older than one of the kids who was a freshman in high school. A year later, the wife paid for the nanny’s transition.
This was when she came to me for representation. At our second meeting, she was with the nanny who she only referred to as "Mark." I honestly believed at first that he was her son. Then the wife told me she’d tried multiple times to have the husband taken into custody thinking it would get her full custody of the kids.
She had gotten a restraining order and then kept trying to trick him into breaking it—and her plan was utterly chilling. She had the nanny call him in tears saying their younger child had been in an accident and she couldn't tell if he was breathing. So, the husband rushed over in a panic, only to be immediately taken by officers waiting for him.
The wife’s story was that the husband threatened that he was on his way to attack her and abduct the kids. But she didn’t stop there. On another occasion, the wife bought illicit substances then paid her father to plant them in the husband's car. The father got cold feet at the last minute and confessed to the husband what his daughter wanted him to do.
Less than a week after the nanny turned 18, the wife came into my office with them and proudly declared that they were dating and madly in love. Despite all of this, the wife got primary custody of the kids who referred to the nanny as Daddy. She also got a hefty monthly spousal support payment.
14. Not the Brightest Match
I knew a guy from a high school job who divorced his wife of two months because she would sleep with a nightlight, but he could only sleep in total darkness. They apparently never lived together until after getting married. He hated her nightlight so much that he would often sleep on the couch instead, but sometimes he would claim the bed for himself and lock her out of the bedroom for the night.
This was an eccentric late 40s man working at Burger King who acted like all the other high school coworkers were his best chums, and often told us these weird stories. I'm glad I don't work with him anymore.
15. Ready, Set, Action!
A client was accused of harming his children. The little kids gave graphic, detailed testimonies against their daddy. It looked bad. But then my brother, a failed actor, noticed something incredibly disturbing. In the transcript, one kid asked if they’d hit their mark. He wondered how they knew acting jargon and subpoenaed the wife’s checking account.
Sure enough, he found that she was paying for acting lessons. So, he put the sketchy “acting coach” on the stand who, in a panic, shared videos of “practice interrogations” with the kids coaching them on what to say about their father. The father ended up with sole custody of their kids.
16. There’s An App for That
I was a legal assistant when this case came in, but this lady divorced her husband of two months because he got her an iPad case for her birthday instead of the expensive jewelry she wanted.
17. Love Don’t Cost A Thing
I represented a husband divorcing his wife of over 35 years. At mediation, they divided up a half million in assets within half-hour. But then, for two hours, they fought over two hurricane glasses from Pat O'Brien's and a pitchfork. The mediator said that the wife wanted it badly because it was a gift from her father.
The husband swore and said that they’d bought it at the store together a couple of years before. They settled after spending over $1,000 in attorney fees combined for the glasses and pitchfork. They remarried three months later.
18. Married Life Is the Real Hell Inside
Failed exorcisms. The client had an inner ear condition that caused chronic vertigo, but symptoms could be treated with medication. The husband was an evangelical who was convinced his wife 1) had become possessed and that her vertigo and general crankiness at his methods were evidence of demonic possession, 2) the medications she was taking were enabling the devil to hide inside her, and 3) the only proper recourse was an exorcism.
He would hide her meds until she got dizzy and then try various methods of exorcism. This included: Sweating it out (put under blankets while incapacitated and locked in a room full of space heater). Freezing it out (pretty much the reverse with AC, fans, and bags of ice). Surprising it out (he would jump out and scare her like it was the hiccups, but instead of yelling ‘Boo!’ he would recite the Lord’s Prayer or Psalms).
The final straw was that he tried to "surprise it out of her" by pushing her down the stairs when they were heading out for dinner. This guy was some type of executive, and they still went out to dinner after the stairs incident. She asked for the divorce at an Applebee’s that night. I have often tried to picture that conversation, as she was adamant that he was a total sweetheart and never acted out of malice or anger.
19. Still Not Over It
My aunt has been divorced for quite some time. She drives her attorney crazy with her demands. She took her husband to court over switching the beneficiary of his life insurance policy from her to their children. But it gets worse. After finding out from her friend about his many prescriptions, she wanted court-ordered blood tests weekly.
This, of course, could not be entered into evidence as the friend worked for the pharmacy and could be fired. The wife also wanted to know when and where he worked so that her private investigator could follow him and make sure that his new girlfriend was not staying with him at his hotel room charged on his work card.
20. Not What the Doctor Ordered
My client put his wife in an assisted living facility based on a misdiagnosis, the medication of which caused the wife to be unable to care for herself. While in the facility, my client—shocker—started dating another woman and methinks began using hard drugs. He used a loooot of money on both of these things. She eventually got off the medication and got better.
Suffice to say, she was not happy about what had transpired.
21. In The Fine Print
I got a court order on my desk that explicitly banned a father from playing Minecraft with his son on the internet. The ex-wife alleged that the in-game chat was a form of improper contact that wasn't outlined in the custody or visitation plan. If this was after divorce, it’s hard to imagine what caused that to happen.
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22. Sole Custody Is Not in Your Stars
Staff Attorney for a judge. Not a divorce but a custody modification hearing. Ex-wife wanted sole L&P custody of the kids because the ex-husband was spending all his money on a palm reader/psychic and refused to pay child support. On cross examination, ex-wife's attorney got him to admit that he was spending all his discretionary income on this psychic.
He said he had spent over $5,000 on "readings" and other services there. Judges frequently chime in with questions in domestic matters, so my judge asked why he was not paying support as his divorce decree required. His explanation was i) the psychic could "read" that his children were provided for without his money and ii) he would be able to repay the ex when he takes the children to Mexico permanently to "seek great riches" there.
Which my judge read as, "My psychic told me to kidnap my kids.”
23. Micro Waves Of Emotion
I was sitting in the lobby of the courthouse when my parents were in the courtroom getting divorced. The couple before my parents had come out of the courtroom and were consulting with their lawyers on opposite sides of the lobby. The woman and her lawyer stopped and talked right in front of me—and I couldn’t believe what I heard. She was wild with rage.
Her lawyer finally got her to shut up for a minute and explained that her husband was offering her a settlement in which she’d get the house, the car, full custody of the kids, all the money including their retirement savings, child support and alimony, and all their possessions, just about everything she had demanded.
He just wanted his clothes, a few dishes, and the microwave. The lawyer told her that she'd better take the offer because she certainly was not going to get anything better. The husband had made clear that if there was any argument, he was going to fight for all of it because he was offering this so he could walk away.
He told her that if she made her husband go through a court battle over those few meager things, he was going to make her pay. She started screaming in anger about, “her microwave!” The lawyer told her she could buy another microwave for less than the cost of the time that he will bill her just to have this discussion.
But no, she returned to screaming about how he couldn’t have her microwave and demanded that they go back into court and battle it out for that microwave, no matter the cost. People are stupid.
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24. A Dirty Separation
I’m an intern, but the judge I work for used to do divorce work. He has some crazy stories but this one is probably the most outrageous, though the divorce was pretty justified. Every morning, this couple would sit in the bathroom together while one of them had their morning dump. One would sit on the toilet and the other on the rim of the bathtub.
This particular morning, the wife was on the toilet and husband on the edge of the tub. They started to argue about their relationship, so the wife reaches down, pulls her tampon out and flings it at the husband. I’m told the tampon stuck for a brief second to his forehead before sliding off. He filed for divorce that same day or the next.
25. Pays To Listen
My client was living with his wife during their proceedings. He'd call me to complain about how his wife finished a bag of chips then didn't go to the store to buy another, invited one of her friends over who he hated, watched TV shows instead of fixing dinner, and numerous complaints of her "lack of a moral compass."
And he paid me $250 per hour for listening to all of that. When a client refuses to settle and notes that "it's the principle of the thing," lawyers get rich, and the client needlessly bankrupts themselves.
26. Memories Are Worth More Than Plastic
Wasn't the reason but did happen during the course of the divorce. Neither side would follow the court orders. When they had to go back to court, they were fighting over a pistol and the man's grandmother's bowls. I assumed for weeks that these bowls were some sort of heirloom or expensive china. When they finally brought the bowls in to swap, they were freaking Tupperware.
27. Play Fair
The Xbox and Wii games were in the family living room. The father took the games from the living room and put them in his bedroom. So, the children spent all of their time there. The mother went to court just to obtain an official order that the Xbox and Wii be returned to the living room. They spent thousands on this.
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28. The Final “Gotcha!”
Paralegal here. There are so many crazy divorces and divorce will bring out the absolute worst in couples. When thinking of reasons why a divorce started, this one stands out to me the most: At my last firm, we did general law, which included probate. A couple did their will with our firm. We drafted everything; they were mid-70s to early 80s and married 40 years total. Divorced and remarried once.
Husband wanted us to put in his will that his kids get his entire estate but did not want us to tell his wife. He wanted to have us make a secret will and a fake will. The fake will would be signed with her present, and then he wanted us to shred it and he will come in later to sign the "real will." He copied his wife on the email that had all of this information disclosed in it. Two weeks later, he called us and said he wanted to file for divorce instead.
Bonus one: A previous client was PISSED his wife was cheating on him. She wanted a non-contested divorce and wanted to use my boss specifically because she knew he was a great lawyer. He pretended to go along with her terms and contacted us literally two days before his wife and retained us. He said he didn't care how much money the retainer was but wanted my boss so his wife couldn't have him as a lawyer.
He called and paid first, so he won that battle.
29. Priceless Principle
I worked as a tech guy at a family law practice for five years. In a small town, they also had me work homicides and intimidate the PI who had to serve people as I look a bit rough. One couple spent $40 grand and two mediation meetings fighting over a set of Christmas red chili peppers lights. They had a lot in assets.
There were two oil and gas companies, multiple houses, and tons of cash between them. But according to the transcript, "No DICE! She'll never get those Chili Lights on my watch. It's about the principle!"
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30. Two Strikes, I’m out
My jerk cousin told his wife she had three chances to give him a son. Daughter was born first. Strike one. Son was born second. Then they find out the boy can’t eat gluten. So, my cousin divorced her and has made zero effort to see his kids. He would also take off work, and instead of spending time with the babies or her, he'd tell her, "Just act like I’m at work and do all your normal stuff."
Then he'd watch TV all day. Jerk.
31. Expiration Date
Their discussion about the division of assets included fighting over opened boxes of grocery items. After the couple refused to compromise over a half-eaten box of cereal, the judge went ballistic. He just lost it. He told them that he was going to make a summary judgment and exclude the couple because they were wasting the court's time.
32. Two Is a Marriage, Mom Is a Crowd
Not me, but a friend my mum has divorced her husband because his mother still coddled him at age 40, with his consent. They lived with his mother (common in Asia). By coddle, I mean that she would walk straight into their room after his shower and powder his back for him. They couldn’t lock their bedroom door because his mother would come in as and when she wanted.
If they locked the door, she would knock repeatedly asking what they were doing. Lol, what would they be possibly doing??? Playing poker???
33. Shuttered Down
The couple was just about to settle with only one matter to contend—their lovely Victorian home’s windows. The husband had lost his job at one point and restored all the old windows. It was time-consuming and labor-intensive. While discussing their division of assets, they agreed to split the sale of the house equally.
But he demanded more for the windows. She said that she should get the money because she was supporting them then. He said she could keep the entire house, but he wanted the windows. They went back and forth endlessly while the mediator tried in vain to get them back into a neutral area. The whole agreement fell apart.
Even though mediation cost less than going to court and saved a lot of time, they decided to go to court because neither party could give up on those windows.
34. Not So Sinful as To Not Get One, I See
My client was the outrageous one, so my heart went out to his poor wife. He had OCD which manifested primarily financially, so he made their lives a penny-pinching hell. Examples: he was obsessed with avoiding unnecessary driving (wear and tear on the car, gas expenses), so he cut the whole family’s hair at home and never let them eat at a restaurant or go to the movies.
Weirdest of all: he kept one toilet paper roll on him at all times, and you had to get one square from him before you could go to the bathroom. He never gave more than one square. Wife finally got fed up and left him when 1) he gave her bangs during an in-home haircut and 2) their daughter was so traumatized by the toilet paper thing they couldn’t potty train her.
Also: he HATED paying his divorce lawyer bill. He was also an old-fashioned mega-Catholic who considered divorce a deadly sin. He viewed my whole job as an unnecessary (and sinful) expense.
35. Pet Paperwork
A divorce decree was 30-pages long detailing who had custody of their two dogs, which vet to see, what food, etc. It was ridiculous. It described the plan for the next several years for who had custody on what holiday and how the dogs had to be transported. If you could think of a ridiculous requirement, it was in there.
36. One Thing He Couldn’t Handle By Himself
Worked in matrimonial law for a year and a half before I had to leave because it just overwhelmed me with how awful humanity is. I'll never forget filing papers that described her soon to be ex-husband’s behavior, including: "masturbates on the living room couch without closing the door and leaves sticky tissues everywhere" with further description of their three young children potentially walking in on him.
37. Not Worth It
The wife came to court with an itemized list of how much everything he owned was worth when they were dividing their assets. It was millions. But on her list were items like a shovel for $100, 50 flowerpots for $75 each, packs of pens for $50 each, and other small-ticket items that she listed at four times their worth.
There were maybe a handful of legitimate items on the list, but that was it. On the next court date, the husband brought in the shovel as it particularly annoyed him and gave it to her lawyer saying, "She can take her shovel. It sucks anyway."
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38. In a Divorce Court Far, Far Away
I had a client incur over 20 additional hours of very expensive billable hours just because he and his ex-wife were battling and went to trial over their Star Wars collection. This was the only issue at trial, they were able to work out custody, child support, and the house...but the Star Wars collection went to trial.
The Judge ended up splitting it in the worst way possible, basically giving each side half of what they wanted and then mixing and matching everything else and breaking up "collections." When speaking about it at a conference, the Judge admitted she did it because if they were going to act like children, she would treat them like children. The thing is, the value of this collection was over $100k, so hardly kids’ stuff.
Neither side had it in them to appeal.
39. Following Up
The wife and her husband were separated, and the wife decided that it was in her best interest to be the one to get the ball rolling on divorce papers. So, she went in to see a lawyer and told him there were irreconcilable differences and that she was sure he was stalking her now that they were separated and had proof.
She went out to her car and brought in a box of notebooks. Inside the notebooks were written accounts of everything and everywhere her husband had been or was going with things written in like, "My husband’s car is in front of me again. I swear he knows where I'm going to be every day. He's always there when I arrive."
Basically, the "proof" that she showed was actually her stalking her husband, but she had it in her head that it was the other way around.
40. She Won’t Drink to That
I do my student practice at my family's law firm. A young woman filed for a divorce because her husband drank ONE beer during weekdays after a day of work. The guy wasn't violent, doing drugs, or anything like that. He was just a normal, polite guy who liked to have a cold one after 10-hour shift. They are a very good couple and argue so rarely that this woman's friends told her to write down everything he did to upset her and re-read it every day, so she had reasons to stay angry.
My mom (lawyer) set the woman straight. She told her he was just doing what all guys do and to find herself new friends instead of ones ready to sabotage their marriage.
41. Tortoise And The Hare
Both clients were so resentful of each other that everyone had to meet to argue over every scrap of anything. The final object that neither would settle on was a ceramic rabbit statue. It was a really generic one with zero sentimental value. But since it was the final item, neither side wanted to "lose" the last thing.
They dragged it out over three separate meetings for this one statue. Once they settled and signed everything, the "winning" party stuck it on their lawyer's desk as a gift and walked out.
42. From the Petty to the Predatory
He didn’t help her put up a shower curtain. It may have been a straw that broke the camel’s back situation. Best reason I've ever heard, though: cops showed up to tell her that her husband is a violent child offender, and she’s now aiding and abetting because her house is next to a school. THAT one was a "yikes" situation.
43. Loop-de-loop Hole
In my state, if a married couple sleeps together after one has an affair and the other has acknowledged it, then the cheating is forgiven and null to the divorce. One rich guy found out that his wife was cheating on him so was divorcing her. This way he’d get a significantly better deal on payments and dividing assets.
So, the wife went and slept with the husband again. Later, she sent a text asking if he’d enjoyed the night before. His response was to send her a naughty photo in agreement. One phone call later to his counsel, and there was a substantially better agreement.
44. You Can’t Wipe Away These Differences
My boss just got divorced. His wife was telling people one of her reasons was the amount of toilet paper he used. She was a super coupon clipper thrifty lady and would listen when he went to the bathroom to see if he was using “too much TP.”
45. Less Is More
One divorced couple came in because the ex-husband wanted to lower his spousal support payments due to his lowered income, great financial responsibilities, and the fact that his ex-wife was declining to seek paid employment, all of which sounded reasonable at first. His income did decline due to “cuts” at his company.
But his new wife who technically worked as his assistant was now making quadruple her salary, more than he ever had. He tried every trick in the book. He claimed that his ex-wife had "unpaid renters" living with her and could charge them rent. These renters were their twins living at home who had just graduated high school and were staying for college.
This was even though the ex-husband was actually allowing his step-daughter and her two children to live with him and his wife. They didn’t expect her to pay rent, and he was paying for her to go to college too. His ex-wife produced evidence that he had told his own children to figure out paying for college themselves.
He claimed that his ex-wife worked as a nanny for free by choice and should be getting paid for work elsewhere. The kids who she watched for free were their three shared grandchildren from their eldest child, two of whom were severely disabled. He claimed that when he married his new wife, he gained over 15 new dependants.
This was technically true, but those dependants were all in Mexico and included his new wife's grown siblings and their families, none of whom he had ever met.
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46. The One Game They Won’t Play
Lawyer here. One of mine that sticks out is that the husband and wife both played some sort of on-line role-playing game, sort of like The Sims, I think, but a little more elaborate and adult (Second Life maybe?). I don't know anything about online games. The wife got heavily involved with the game, like 10 hours a day, and wouldn't reduce her time playing no matter what he said.
What tipped things over the edge, however, was that he set up a fake profile/avatar and went online to stalk her in the game and found her avatar having sex with some random guy's avatar. Nothing ever happened in real life (neither of them were exactly oil paintings to look at), but that was enough for the guy to initiate a fairly acrimonious divorce.
47. Do What I Can
We represented the wife in her divorce from her husband who was a very prominent businessman. As a show of force by the husband, he purchased our office building and proceeded to make small but annoying changes. He had our parking spaces moved to the furthest spaces or had the elevator be down randomly for maintenance.
And he knew that our offices were located on the top floor. The firm’s lease also happened to end during their divorce proceedings, and we were given notice to vacate in the middle of the winter holidays. After we moved out, the husband put up signs for his company on the outside of the building where our offices were.
48. A Million Reasons Why Not
Hopefully soon-to-be-former divorce attorney here. I’ve seen tons of crazy reasons for people to get divorced. Some of them stupid, some of them make perfect sense. I had one person get divorced because her husband wouldn't take her out to the movies anymore. I had one client who looked through her husband’s phone and found out he was hiring male escorts while he was on business trips.
One female client got a divorce because she hated sex with her husband. Her last relationship before she got married was pretty intense, and I guess her husband just didn't match up. I've had a few clients who were teachers get divorced because their spouses found out they were having indecent relationships with students. All of the teachers were female.
One divorce involved an elderly couple who had both recently been widowed. They had both been married to their individual spouses for over 40 years. They married each other out of loneliness. About two years into the marriage, they realized they made a huge mistake. They couldn’t stand each other. It was weird seeing eighty-year-olds complaining about the same thing you see kids arguing about.
49. Paying For Spite
My dad went through some financial troubles because my mom was a shopaholic and took the word “no” about as well as a toddler. So, one day, he figured that he would save more if he stopped his mortgage, property taxes, and car payments. He was later caught for tax evasion. When my mom found out, she immediately filed for divorce.
She insisted my dad didn't make enough money and kept maxing out her AMEX weekly. Thus, my dad's solution. During the divorce, she said she wanted the nice cars. Great, take them. Then she told my dad she wanted the house. My dad pleaded with her to reconsider and told her point-blank that it was days from foreclosure.
He told her that she couldn't afford to take that hit on her credit, but she really wanted to stick it to him and thought he was bluffing. After a week of mediation, he finally gave in and told her to take the house. The house and mortgage were transferred to her name. It foreclosed, and a lien was placed on the house.
Through some shady deal, she short-sold the house without informing the new owner of the lien, failed to claim it on her taxes, and spent the money. When the new owner finds out, she is screwed if the IRS ever comes to collect capital gains. All because she wanted to screw over my dad.
50. It Takes Two to Tango: One to Gab and One to Cheat
My dad split from my mom because "she takes too long to tell a story." He was actually having affair #4795809374 and that came out shortly after. But this was one of the main reasons he gave when they did a counseling session together.
51. Two For One Deal
A client and his wife came to me for a routine real estate transaction. Everything seemed totally normal. But then, at the end of the consultation, the client casually stated that he would like to divorce his wife—who was sitting right there. I was stunned, the wife started crying, and the client began rubbing his wife's shoulder and told her that everything was going to be okay. That was awkward.
52. Til Debt Do Us Part
Divorce lawyer here. One client filed for divorce because he owed his bookie $70,000. He didn't want to leave his wife, but he figured he would get half the house in the divorce, which was worth $700,000 and pay his debts. He had already blown through their life savings gambling. He was the absolute worst guy you'll ever meet.
53. Inconsistency Is Key
My co-worker’s wife saw a picture of him at a pool when he was in high school looking really athletic. He was toned, muscular, and tan, but over the ten years after high school, he stopped lifting. So, he lost his muscle tone and got skinny. She wanted him to get back to working out because she liked the way he looked.
He said that it was something that he missed doing and agreed to get a gym membership. But he was going to the gym for four days a week and only worked out for two of them. On the days when he didn't work out, he sat in the sauna to get sweaty, watched some videos online, then went home. She asked how the gym was once.
And he accidentally let it slip that he was fudging workouts twice a week. She apparently found that to be a deal breaker and filed for divorce.
54. The Numbers Don’t Line up With Your Stars
She spent $42,000 on psychic hotlines. Notably, she then wouldn’t accept any of our offers, and I continuously asked her lawyer to provide a counteroffer...shouldn’t her psychic have told her how the case would turn out?!?
55. For All My Lives
I had a client who was into a computer game with his wife where they could create an avatar and interact with other people’s avatars online. He suspected his wife of hijinks and made his own avatar to follow her in the game. Sure enough, her avatar was doing the dirty with some dude's avatar. That was it for my client.
56. Stay for the Pay
The saddest divorce we were hired to do (but ended up not doing for reasons that'll become apparent), was a woman in her fifties whose husband had really just let himself go. He was over 400 pounds, just did his third triple bypass, refused to do ANYTHING different, just smoked and drank all day long while watching TV.
His doctors told him he was going to die in six months if he didn't change his behavior. He told them they were all morons and could go to heck. Meanwhile, his wife is this successful woman who makes over $10k a month on her HOBBY, while making six figures in her normal work. She lost all respect for him, all desire, and all love for him by watching his decline.
For the past few years, she could barely stand him. It also sounded like there was some verbal abuse going on where he constantly accused her of cheating and gaslighting her while cheating himself throughout their marriage (and spending all his money on substances). His accusations ramped up considerably once she lost about 200 lbs. the good old fashioned way.
We were working on her divorce, and one of her provisions was that he keeps her as the beneficiary on his life insurance (for obvious reasons). She assured us he would agree to everything she suggested in the paperwork if she talked him through it. One day, we get an email from her saying to halt the divorce.
Not because they were reconciling, but because he refused to keep her as the beneficiary on his life insurance if they divorced. So, she stopped the divorce. So that she could get the benefits when he inevitably dies in a few months. It was absolutely stone-cold, but honestly I couldn't say I would have done things any differently than her.
We've had one where the opposing party (husband) found out his old wife (late 70s) was terminally ill. He started using EVERY tactic in the book to delay the final hearing so that she would die before their divorce was finalized and he wouldn't have to lose anything. We just got another where the couple agreed to everything beforehand, signed documents, agreed to a dissolution and how to share custody.
Now, husband has a vengeance boner and wants to trash the dissolution, take everything from her, and taking away even their kid from her. Why? Because she told him "no" when he asked for their kid a full day and night ahead of schedule when she had already made plans with the child. People are totally ridiculous.
57. Fighting Tooth And Paste
The wife wanted a divorce just two months into their marriage because her husband squeezed the toothpaste from the top and not the bottom. She claimed to have told him a million times over to stop to make using it easier for the both of them. I thought it would’ve been easier if they just had separate toothpaste tubes.
58. Spring Cleaning Comes for Everything
He was frustrated by her hoarding. She was frustrated by his utter uselessness. He filed for divorce, and she was my client. Her prized possession was a couple of rooms full of scrapbooking materials. His prized possession was a yard full of junky old cars that he never worked on. They had no children and no real assets.
They hated each other more than any two people I'd ever met, and the only terms they would agree to were these: he gets the scrapbooking stuff, and she gets the cars. My client also took the house, as he had no income and didn't want it anyway. It was the shortest divorce decree I ever drafted. I intentionally squeezed it onto one page, and the judge and I had a good laugh over it.
Once the decree was signed and filed, she hauled all the scrapbooking stuff to the yard, and he removed it to the dump. She then called a junk shop I referred her to and had all of his cars removed from the yard. These two also fought over a toilet brush, as he didn't want to have to buy one when he moved out. I politely instructed my client to "give him the darn toilet brush."
59. In Such Dish-dain
The husband wouldn’t rinse the dishes before he loaded them into the dishwasher. It frustrated his wife who asked him constantly to rinse them before loading. Their compromise was to buy a fancy, top-of-the-line dishwasher to solve their problem. That night, she yelled about the dishes. He filed for divorce the next day.
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60. Love Is Not a Get Rich Quick
He got drunk at the wedding, she did not like it, and decided to divorce him right after the honeymoon (which she went on without him). Moreover, this was all an elaborate scheme of divorce-robbery, because the guy was loaded, and so was his entire family...but they were loaded because they were a family of EXCELLENT lawyers.
He was a third-generation lawyer, with all the smarts and experience of his predecessors combined. Let’s just say it did not go well for her.
61. Let The Credits Roll
The husband came home and told his wife she had to contribute more financially to the groceries because she, as a lady, was using more toilet paper than him. She took it as a joke and had a good laugh. That’s when the switch flipped. He got mad and then asked for a divorce. It’s worth mentioning that his salary was three times higher than her salary.
62. Who Needs a Bear-Hug?
When I clerked for a judge, we had a weeklong divorce trial between a couple. The husband was a wildlife photographer, and the wife was a stay-at-home wife with no kids who...helped "remodel" the home. Anyway, the husband was mauled by a grizzly bear he was photographing, spent several months in the hospital and rehab, and was served papers shortly after getting out, now without an eye and with severe scarring on his face and side.
She wanted half of everything. The non-scarred half at least.
63. Sticks And Stones
A couple came to marriage counseling trying to work things out before resorting to divorce. The husband was not short of reasons of why he wanted the divorce and went on non-stop. He claimed that he was doing yard work and asked his wife to carry, “a couple of sticks” that he trimmed from the bushes to a pile he made.
He grabbed a big stack and brought it to the pile that he was going to mulch. His wife grabbed a couple of sticks, and he asked her to carry more. So, she grabbed a few more. He kept emphasizing that he said, “a couple!” Because she obviously didn’t realize that he didn’t actually mean “a couple” but closer to a bunch.
Another qualm was that his wife told him that they had enough money to buy a new car. Excited, the husband sat with her to price cars and choose one. She rejected every one that he showed her. They were out of budget. When he got frustrated, he asked what the budget was. She told him that it was $2,000. That ended the marriage.
64. Rolling With Someone Else Now
Divorce lawyer in London. Had a client who indulged in some recreational substance use. His dealer lives in the same apartment building as him. Went down one day to pick up some stuff. When the drug dealer (female) came to the door, he could hear his wife in the background. Turns out that his wife also liked that life and was getting her fix in with the neighborhood dealer.
But it doesn't end there. Because they all get on so well, they start having parties and hanging out. Parties become orgies each week. The husband and wife put their kids to bed and head downstairs to the dealers flat for a feast of flesh. A couple of months go by, and the wife comes home and says she is leaving him to be in a full-time relationship with the dealer!
Dude is now stressed, but he can't score no more from his dealer who stole his missus!
65. Wheels Of Justice
One couple during their divorce proceedings was stuck on one thing: a hamster. The fight lasted for so long that it died before they had settled. They’d fought for it as a bargaining chip to win favor from their children. With how much it had cost to settle, it would have been cheaper to get another hamster.
66. Dine in, Dash out of Your Marriage
My father’s best friend divorced his wife over her cooking. Apparently, every day he would come home to amazing cooked meals. In reality, she couldn’t cook at all and was ordering food from different restaurants. She even went as far as dirtying pots and pans to make it look like she cooked all day. She got away with this for almost a year before he caught on.
This was back in the day before you could check your bank statements online, and since she did all the billing, he didn’t notice all the money she was spending on takeout.
67. Taking Too Much
A woman filed for divorce because her husband ate everything he found in their fridge whenever she was at work. So, every night she came back to an empty fridge. He did also cheat on her, but she didn’t care about that as much as the empty fridge. By that point in the marriage, the fridge had pushed her to divorce him.
68. Two Sides to Every Horror Story
I am a lawyer that handles quite a few divorces (among other things), and I've seen all sorts of reasons for marriages ending. The only thing that is consistently true (and relevant to this question) is that it is NEVER for just one reason, and it is NEVER one-sided. In fact, I've started telling potential clients in our initial interview that I am well aware that I am going to uncover some dirt on my client in the process—not to scare them, but to put their mind to ease that I've seen worse.
The fact that you haven't been 100% an angel up to this point doesn't scare me, and I'd rather find out about it from my client beforehand than later on from their spouse at the worst possible moment. All this is just to say that when you hear about people divorcing over one stupid argument or mistake, usually that's just the straw the broke the camel's back.
That said, some of the lighter straws I've seen include: A guy who is 100% convinced that his wife (our client) is actually a lesbian in love with his sister and just using him as a cover (but he also claims she is having sex with me to pay for her legal fees, and with every male whose phone number is in her call history).
A woman who is divorcing my client because he was "too sad" after his father died last year (my client had to break down her door to get his father's ashes a few weeks after he left the house and she refused to let him back in or give them to him). A woman who claims my client was emotionally abusive towards her because he refused to yell at her, and sat in silence ignoring her when she screamed at him (he has this recorded, time-stamped for the dates and times she insists the incidents occurred, and she's listened to them and his complete silence as she goes on tirades and insists this proves her point that he was "emotionally distant and abusive").
69. Friend Or Foe
Before they were married, the fiancée almost called off the wedding because the groom forgot to uninvite his friend who was an attractive single woman. Apparently, he was the designated driver for one night when his fiancée was out of town. He dropped everyone off at home and that was the friend who was the last to go.
It made sense because she lived the closest to him less than ten minutes away. There was no history between them, and they’d only interacted in group situations. His fiancée was convinced that they were guilty. This was even after he called her before leaving the bar and again half an hour later when he came back home.
She’d known this for sure because they had a doorbell camera…that she was watching. She asked him all these questions about what they’d talked about at the bar, when they were in the car, and when they were alone in the car. After her interrogation, she casually told him that she didn’t want her to come to the wedding.
He agreed to uninvite her—but that’s where he made a fatal mistake. He forgot to do it. So, he hoped that it all would blow over by the wedding day. But on the day of, the bride saw the friend arrive from her suite and threw a tantrum. The wedding planner locked the bride, groom, best man, and maid of honor in the room and told them to work it out.
It did not go well. The bride wanted the groom to tell her to leave. He pointed out that doing so would disrupt the day and it’d be easier to just pretend she didn’t exist. Wrong answer. The best man got the groom’s phone and called the friend to explain what was happening. She left and never talked to the groom again.
The ceremony began late after the bride’s makeup was fixed. The marriage didn’t last. He realized that the accusations would never end. He couldn’t talk to any woman, friends, coworkers, or even her friends, without her suspicion. We suggested she’d cheated, but he got upset and tried fighting us. No one will know now.
70. Separation Anxiety
I used to work in a general practice firm, and the guy who worked across the hallway from me was a family law attorney. He was a good attorney, but every day I would hear him yelling on the phone at his clients. One day, I asked him why he did when it was obviously stressful in a non-legal work type of way. He pointed out that it's honestly pretty easy work. There's one chapter of statutes dedicated to it, and you need to know a little Civil Procedure and that's about it.
It's an amazing segment of business. Not only is not that difficult from an intellectual rigor perspective, but holy moly...those family law attorneys make serious bank for being willing to put up with the headaches. I would routinely hear him yelling at clients like, "Don't go over there. I'm INSTRUCTING you to not go there. If you go there, I will fire you as a client and when you go to jail, I won't take your call." (For the record: this was in a fairly affluent suburb).
Most of the disputes that would drive him into my office for a "break" would revolve around parents wanting to know their recourse for ex-hubby dropping the kids off four minutes later than agreed and how the client planned to get "even.” I also recall one time a client had gotten his cell phone number and called him on a Saturday evening with some "emergency" (spoiler: his ex had done something egregious like took the kids to the pool without his consent).
So, on Monday morning, the attorney sent the client an invoice for $500 for a Saturday phone call (which probably lasted like five minutes). He did it so the guy would call him and say "What's this?!" and then the attorney could explain to him that is what he charges for non-emergency weekend calls, this time he'd waive it but if he ever did it again he could be sure to get a bill that he'd end up paying.
71. Curse In A Blessing
A woman came to us because she wanted to divorce her husband. He had just gotten a new job and a pretty big raise. With this job, he was able to work from home instead of at the office. This meant that the wife wouldn’t be able to continue having an affair with the next-door neighbor as easily anymore with him at home.
72. You Can Put a Price on a Soulmate
She was kidnapped in Mexico, and he refused to pay the ransom. Eventually, her family managed to pay, and she was left on the side of the road. It is not outrageous as in petty, but outrageous as in how absurd that is. I don’t know how much they wanted as ransom, but it was substantial, as the conversation between her family and him was how he had it liquid, and they had to liquidate investments to get that amount.
This happened about seven years ago. He wasn’t with her on the trip. She was traveling with cousins and went downstairs alone to get ice cream and wait for them to get ready. I do not know all the details. She was extremely distraught talking about it and it was not necessary to pry. It was clearly traumatic, so even though I had a million more questions, I left it alone.
73. Clearing The Air
My ex thinks I divorced him because my friends told me to. What really happened was that I was complaining about him to my friend, and she said something that completely opened my eyes. She told me: "You know, he really is a passive-aggressive piece of garbage. He does this all the time." And that was when I started thinking about how he really did always pull that stuff.
Then I realized how I wasn't actually depressed. I just hated living with him. She opened my eyes, but I divorced him because he didn’t treat me well, not because my friend told me to.
74. No Free Samples
My grandfather’s brother was a judge who presided over state issue marriages from time to time. One couple he married returned six months later to "Confirm" the wedding and end their trial marriage. At this point, he informed them that there was no such thing and that they had been married for six months. They subsequently broke up.
75. The Conscious Truth
A couple ended things after the woman had a dream that the guy was cheating on her. Her reasoning was, "If it wasn't true, then I wouldn't dream about it." She took it so seriously that she left him. I've known the guy for quite a long time, and he maintains that he's never been unfaithful to anybody, and I believe him.
76. Just Throw out the Whole Man
My great-great-grandparents had an interesting case. He was abusive, like "pimp her out and then beat her for infidelity" levels of abuse. This was the 1910s, though, and in our state, you couldn't initiate a divorce for cruelty. In fact, the only possible grounds for divorce was infidelity. A few times, she tried just leaving him anyway.
Once he came home from work and she, plus all eight of their kids, were just gone. But he always found them, and since they were still married, he had every right to grab the kids and go back home with them. Finally, she moved out and went to live with another man. She flaunted the new guy around town until her no-good husband got embarrassed enough to sue her for divorce on the grounds of infidelity.
Although she couldn't read or write, she put her X on those papers the minute he served her. It was a major local scandal (very Catholic community, divorce was rare), but she got what she needed to be safe.
77. Rage Quit
I got married at 18 to escape a bad life that lasted four years. Once when I was at work, he wasn't answering any texts or calls. When he did answer and before I could say hi, he said, "What do you want, I'm playing Call of Duty." I left him a week later. The petty reason is just the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
78. So Much for the Language of Love
Friend of mine divorced his then-wife because she would only speak French when her family would come over. She was Spanish, as was her family. To add, her family spoke English, French, and Spanish; he could only speak Spanish and English. She got bored of being married to him, her family basically talked smack about him while he was there, was only when he recorded a conversation while they were there and got it translated he found out what was going on.
79. Waiting Game
My friend’s ex left him because her male "friends" were less attentive and wouldn't buy her drinks anymore after she had gotten married. It was naturally his fault. Even more hilarious is when he found someone else nine years later, she became upset because he was supposed to wait until she “got her head on straight.”
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80. Take a Rest From the Restroom
So, this girl I went to school with marries this rich guy from Ohio. She moves in with him, and they seem to get along well. Six months later, she files for divorce. Up to that point, all I’ve heard from her was how good it was going. Anyways, it turns out our buddy had a fetish for going off on urine. He asked her to urinate on him in the tub.
At first, she agreed to it as she thought it was a onetime thing. But he kept asking for it more and more. She tried to decline it respectfully, but he wouldn’t get any of the hints. She finally used the tub being too small as a reason. Next day she comes home with two dozen construction guys and their heavy equipment tearing the bathroom walls.
A week or so later, they finish up the bathroom. She comes home to a sign left on the fridge with a note to drink up, she got some watering to do. I don't know what exactly she put down as the official reason in the paperwork but that was definitely her biggest reason to walk out of that relationship. Oh, I forgot to add, he also wanted to bring a horse to do the deed as well and at times, asked her to make animal sounds while she stood on top of him.
81. Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner
The wife was going to make dinner that night. The husband made dinner every single night. She had one job. It was a chicken-based dish. Both had gone into too much detail about their planned meal with drinks. She undercooked the chicken. Their solution? Divorce. The husband said that they had never really argued prior.
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82. It’s That Time of the Month (for a Divorce)
Had a soldier stationed at Guantanamo Bay who met a local. Fell madly in love. They decided to get married so she could come with him back in the States once his tour was done. She was working on American dishes and was making spaghetti. He comes home from work one day, and she's making it. She puts the meat in, puts the canned sauce in, and then pulls an unlabeled bag out of the freezer and adds it to the sauce.
At this point in the session, she's hysterically crying with broken Spanglish. She's trying to explain she didn't know any better. Through the hysteria he informs me her mother and grandmother told her if she wanted to keep her man, she needed to put her menstrual blood in his food. It was so hard to keep my composure. I was trying to hard not to gag.
They both described they were madly in love, but he couldn't let it go. They ended up getting a divorce. Having done this for 14 years, I have found it 100% accurate that truth is stranger than fiction.
83. Window Of Opportunity
My dad was threatening to divorce over a window—but it goes so much deeper than that. It was not just any window, but my bedroom window. He had asked me to open it. But I said no because I was not comfortable with it open. One huge screaming match later, I was left feeling guilty as my mother cried because Dad was threatening divorce and looking to move out.
We couldn’t afford it. We could barely afford where we were renting then. Thankfully, my dad realized how stupid his reaction was over a window after a few days, but now I’m scared that if I refuse to do something like that again, he will actually leave!
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84. Iced Out
My client was living with their partner while the family home was on the market. Both refused to speak to the other for any reason whatsoever. All communication was done through me and the opposing counsel then billed to our clients. I had to negotiate terms with the other lawyer over the sharing of their fridge space.
85. Anyone Interested?
My client’s husband used her email address and phone number to sign her up for every bank, loan, religious, and inappropriate website he found. People bombarded her contacting her about their products and services. He even put out ads for partners online with her information. She actually went out with a guy who answered!
86. No Time For Laughs
The husband and wife were still living together during their divorce. The husband pulled a, “loser says what?” on her, and she took the bait. He giggled like a little child. Her reaction was so absurd, it’s unforgettable. She called her lawyer, who called his lawyer. He got a call from his lawyer telling him that he wasn’t allowed to make jokes like that anymore.
87. Shady Simplicity
My ex tried to file for an emergency order for “kidnapping” our 2-month-old son because I’d moved back home after our split. He had been to my mother’s house numerous times and knew that I was there. He tried to get a judge to order me to move back to the county where he lived even though I had no job or place to live.
The judge told him to never bring that type of request before his court again or his lawyer would lose his license. He then conspired with his lawyer to draw out the divorce proceedings over five years. We were only married for a year and a half, and his girlfriend who lived with him called to tell me this was their plan.
It took a long time and over $60 thousand in fees for my divorce. This was because he had me served first, and therefore, I was the respondent. He then left the state and refused to show up for court dates. His lawyer removed himself as his representation. So, the judge told me that we had to push back the proceedings.
They needed to give him a chance to show up. So, it took four years just to change my status and plaintiff for things to proceed. My lawyer deals with multi-million-dollar divorces for ridiculously rich people in Beverly Hills. He told me that he’d never had a more complicated case for a couple with no assets involved.
My ex now actively avoids employment, jumps from job to job avoiding the wage garnish, and puts all assets in his parents’ name to avoid paying child support.
88. Worthless Attempt
The divorce ended with the wife getting the house, a generous retirement payment, all the gifted jewelry, and the Harley that she had gotten him for his birthday. A few weeks later, there was an incident at the house. Someone broke in and took her jewelry from her husband and only that. It was meant for their daughter.
She tried to file an insurance claim on the jewelry but forgot to get appraisals. So, the most she could get from insurance was $1,500 for over $20,000 worth of jewelry. There’s reason to believe that she staged the incident and now has jewelry that she can’t sell, wear, or give to their daughter without admitting to it.
89. What’s Mine Is Yours
When I worked at a firm, I observed a divorce that lasted decades. The husband had won a huge settlement after being in an accident that caused brain damage. His wife spent the next several years draining his account and taking over property by forging his signature or getting him to sign papers he couldn’t understand.
She then forged some letters from a tax authority and convinced him that he was about to go to prison. She then told him to flee the country. He finally came back years later to find out everything that he’d owned was in her name, and one of the documents he’d signed were their divorce papers. He was left with nothing.
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90. Due In Time
The wife worked as a teacher and was paid well, over $100,000 a year. The husband worked as a general laborer and made about half of what she did. During their divorce, he gave her the house free and clear with the understanding that when she retired, he would get 55% of her pension to offset his interest in the house.
She agreed as she had to retire for him to get any money. Years later, the wife retired without telling the husband. When their son realized what she was doing, she told him not to tell his father. He agreed until a few years later when he learned that his father was in trouble with his finances due to economic issues.
So, he’d let slip that his mom has been retired for a few years now. So, the husband contacted his attorney. Then she was in a mess after upsetting the court as she’d previously agreed to the terms. In the end, he got 65% of her pension for the rest of their lives and she had to pay him all the money that she owes him.
91. Official Family Property
My ex came out as gay and decided he wanted to be a costume designer. Ok, well bad for me, but more power to him. He decided the historical collection of paper dolls my grandma had left me should go to him because he wanted them as models. My lawyer had to claim the shoebox of paper dolls as nonmarital property as an inheritance.
His lawyer made a claim about how they were "co-mingled" and thus marital property because I had put things in the box that I had bought during the marriage such as a coloring book. So, in an otherwise uncontested divorce, there is a giant paragraph in the decree awarding me my nonmarital, inherited box of paper dolls.
92. Can’t Have It All
The husband was an annuities investor and had money and his home before he met his wife. He also had a prenuptial agreement that was ignored during the division of assets. He was also divorcing her for infidelity witnessed by both their children and captured on the house’s security cameras. He lost his case in the end.
The judge determined to split their assets equally. So, they had to sell their house and all of their possessions and divide the profits between them. This was in addition to alimony and child support payments coming from half of his pre-tax wages that he earned. She was also awarded half of his retirement and savings.
The wife received 70% of custody and jurisdiction over visits. She got his three luxury cars leaving him only one. The husband had to foot the bill for all court costs and fees for them both. So, to get revenge, he quit his job, sold his brother the $2.7 million house for $50k, and switched his life insurance recipient to his brother.
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93. Stuck In The Moment With You
This couple was breaking up, and the husband moved out of the house. The wife went to work the next morning as usual. When she came back home in the evening, she found the husband had been to the house and to take his clothing and belongings as she had expected. But he also did something else that she’d never expected—he’d gotten the pettiest revenge ever.
He’d super-glued her belongings together. He glued the TV remote to the table, the phone to its cradle, the pillows to the couch, and even glued the vacuum cleaner to the carpet. She had to report it all as property damage. The officer went with her through the house documenting dozens of items glued to various things.
But for days, she was discovering more things stuck together. So, she then called me to amend or update her report with complaints like, "The oven mitts were glued to the wall!" or "He glued the sheets together in the linen closet!" I've seen people do and say really awful things to each other, but that was diabolical.
94. Present And Accounted For
My ex stood before the judge during my painful divorce and pointed out a charge on my credit card bill for a strip joint. I got the judge’s attention while she was talking—and I knew exactly how to get back at her. We were representing ourselves, so I told him that she was already aware of what the charge was. She was there and even got a lap dance that night.
There were quite a few chuckles from the peanut gallery, and the judge had this quiet hidden little grin that vanished quickly. It felt awesome to say because I'd been screwed over so much from the divorce. It was bad.
95. Eat This
My first husband called me at my office and asked what my lunch plans were. I told him that I was meeting my friend Keli at McDonald's. His reaction made my blood run cold. He complained about spending money on restaurant food and that I should have packed my lunch from home. But just that past weekend, we had bought him a new pair of ski boots that cost over $100.
That was the final straw. I was unhappy about a few things that I could have overlooked, but to get lectured about spending $6.00 on fast food was too much. I hung up, told my manager that I quit, then went home to start packing.
96. Proceed With Prayer
My philosophy professor’s wife divorced him—and the reason why was deeply disturbing. He attempted to perform an exorcism on her. The Christian school didn’t take too well to that and terminated him. Except the exorcism wasn’t the last straw. The wife was actually having a year-long affair with a professor at a rival school across the street. But the exorcism probably didn’t help.
Sources: Reddit, ,
