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66 Family Feuds That Made Their Way To Court And Shocked Lawyers Because Of Their Pettiness
Sometimes, divorces can be incredibly messy. It’s honestly strange how people can hate someone that they once loved and dreamed about spending their life with. Alas, humans are weird, but they can also be petty. Few folks are extremely petty and even take trivial matters to court.
I honestly don’t know how lawyers deal with such frustrating clients. However, they vented online when someone asked them to spill the pettiest fights that went down in family courts. Some are downright bizarre, while others will shock you with how unhinged they are. We have put together the wildest ones for you to scroll through below. Just sit back and enjoy the drama!
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#1
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.
RELATED:
#2
An emergency order to show cause being filed, asking a judge to issue an order preventing dad from taking the child on vacation...to Disneyland. Because if mom isn't happy, no one can be happy.
#3
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.
I don’t know about you, but one thing that’s blatantly evident from most of these stories is how strongly these ex-couples hate each other. When love disappears, relationships can grow extremely bitter. And humans are almost professionals at hurting each other. Or rather, driving them nuts by pulling off something extremely petty.
What they don’t realize is that it just drags their cases out forever. I mean, they could easily get rid of the previous person by pressing stop on the drama. But sometimes, they care more about their pride. Petty moves can also affect the other parent’s case and give them an advantage, especially in custody battles.
#4
(Ex) Husband revoked a citizenship sponsorship - was essentially trying to get his wife to be kicked out of the country so that he'd be get full custody of their infant son. If you read the rest of the file, this wouldn't even be surprising.
#5
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".
#6
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 darn air miles.
Divorce coaches Pegotty and Randy Cooper list 4 major reasons divorce makes good people act badly. They claim that marriages often start with unspoken expectations that you never actually shared with your partner. When those hidden assumptions don’t match up, it’s easy to feel betrayed and blame your ex. But the real issue is usually that neither of you was ever on the same page to begin with.
Also, divorce triggers a primal “fight or flight” response that can make you feel like you’re in danger, even though you’re just navigating a life change. This stress shuts down the logical part of your brain, making it hard to communicate, make good decisions, or even sleep.
#7
Had a mom get called in for not showing up to her 12 year old child with Aspberger's therapy. I quote, "I'd rather take that time to find myself". I've never wanted to throttle someone more in my life.
#8
I'm just an intern, but I once was sifting through discovery that our client provided, as he was trying to win custody over his son.
One of these pieces of discovery was a "detailed account of the mother's timeliness." Basically, if the mother was late to pick up her son, they would time it and document it. Which would make sense if it was significant. But I'm not exaggerating, over a 6-month period, she was late for a TOTAL of 33 minutes. Seeing as they met to exchange the child three times/week, it means she was late by about one or two minutes once a week. It was the most insignificant piece of data that I have ever seen in my entire life, but the client was adamant that we use it in court to prove that the mother was irresponsible.
Chich the witch 14 hours ago
This tells me the father is an a****t and should not be raising the kids.
#9
The ex-husband didn't want to pay what he owed his ex-wife. He thought he could mess with her by dragging on the process with appeals. He 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 end he not only had to pay the full amount of what he owed, but child support, his lawyer fees and her lawyer fees.
They also speak about how divorce often strips away your sense of control, forcing you to make big decisions while relying on expensive lawyers you barely know. This dynamic can quickly turn a difficult situation into a war, where communication breaks down, and both sides feel they’re getting the short end of the stick.
Lastly, they stress that entitlement also plays a role. They explain that divorce often turns shared possessions and memories into a bitter battle over who deserves what, driven more by ego and emotion than logic.
#10
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 funky bedroom stuff and has a new boyfriend. He 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 acts. He did it just to embarrass the mother.
#11
I've seen clients spend $10,000 fighting over a $100 fish tank... It's often not about what you end up with, its about what they don't end up with...
#12
I work as a paralegal at a family law firm. The number of people that will fight their ex for months over something like $200 equivalent is too darn high. Just between the email exchanges and asking us to file anything with the court, they've already racked up that much or more in legal fees.
Just. Let. It. Go.
According to a study, divorce has negative effects on physical and mental health. Researchers explained that “conflict” was one factor that had a big influence on divorce.
“Across genders, higher levels of divorce conflict were found to predict worse mental health, even when accounting for other socio-demographic variables and divorce characteristics,” the experts added.
#13
As an intern, I saw a couple have long, hateful emails about who was going to keep a designer 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.
#14
$3000 between me and another very good lawyer to argue about $13/month versus $30/month child support. They had 50/50 custody. The kid was 13. Even after I did the math for my client explaining they were paying me more than the difference for the entire rest of child support, they still wanted to do it.
Natalia Jahooblies 5 hours ago
Why does anyone have to pay child support when custody is 50/50?
#15
I work for an attorney, and one time we had a client who wanted us to file an emergency hearing for custody. Of their dogs. We said no to that one.
Research also emphasizes that divorced and separated individuals have significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety than married counterparts, roughly twice the rates. In fact, mental health tends to worsen after divorce for most people, with gradual recovery over 2-3 years for most individuals. The period of highest psychological distress is typically in the year immediately following separation.
It adds that divorce activates sustained physiological stress responses that, over time, affect physical health. It could lead to elevated rates of immune dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, and sleep disorders among divorced individuals. These petty conflicts could also add to the stress.
#16
This actually happened during my parents' divorce.
My mom worked a boatload to put my dad through school and him not working a day in his life. He got a job with a huge paycheck, nice retirement benefits, the works. So he immediately divorces my mom.
Judge rules that because she financed his school and supported him throughout, my mom gets spousal benefits such as her own retirement plan from the company, a good deal of his money, etc.
My donor knew my mom was pretty broke and he wasn't, so he hired an expensive lawyer and told her he would drag the divorce out until she had not a penny. Fought to get full custody of me when he honestly never wanted to see me again because he had partying to do. A real jerk.
He told my mom that he would stop if she signed away all her rights to a retirement package, income, etc. Eventually she did.
I grew up dirt poor and a lot of nights my mom went without dinner. All because he wanted all the money. I hate him for what he did to her.
#18
Many people have paid me thousands of dollars to actively litigate for their spouse/ex to pay them $50 to $500. "It's a matter of principle!" Okay bud, whatever you say.
People always think that they (via the family court) will teach their former love a life lesson that will cause an epiphany and a fundamental change of that person's character, for the better. As much as I try to tell them, as many ways as I structure the message, I can never convince them that it won't work. That jerk is still a jerk, lady, even after a contempt order. He's gonna do it again, because it's in his nature.
Surprisingly, some parents don’t realize that while their petty fights affect them, they also harm their children. Experts highlight that children are particularly vulnerable to insecurity because they rely on their parents and other family members for food, shelter, emotional well-being, and any number of other things.
“When children see their parents fighting, they may feel less sure about whether their parents can provide all of these important things, including love and emotional support. Worse, when children witness conflicts between their parents, they often worry they are to blame, even if the conflicts don’t involve them at all. If children blame themselves, they may also worry that their parents will reject or resent them for causing problems in the family,” they add.
#19
In law school I did some intern work for a family law clinic. Most of my clients were pretty reasonable, but when waiting for my cases to be heard in the hearing room, I saw some really petty and terrible stuff from other parties. But one case stood out as the worst.
One guy who got custody of the family dog in the divorce, said that if he didn't get more visitation with the children he would have the dog put down. His excuse was that without the kids there, the dog wouldn't get the attention it needed and was better off gone.
The ex-wife made an impassioned plea before the judge, showing pictures of the kids playing with the dog and video testimony from the kids expressing their love for it. It was 100% clear they would be devastated if the dog was put down. While the judge was very sympathetic, and tried asking the ex-husband to be reasonable, in the end her hands were tied, since the dog was the ex-husband's property per the divorce agreement, and he was free to do whatever he wanted, provided it comported with state anti-cruelty laws.
In the end she relented to give him custody rights basically every weekend of the month in order to save the kids' dog.
To the judge's credit, she gave the ex husband a verbal haranguing like I've never seen in all my years of practicing law since. She warned him that she would be watching this case very closely and would not hesitate referring it to a criminal prosecutor if he slips up in any way either towards the treatment of the dog or the kids. And that if anything happens to that dog, she would fast track a hearing to revisit his visitation rights, and strongly implied the new visitation schedule would be vastly against his favor should that come to pass.
On that day I realized I never wanted to be a family lawyer.
Edit: tl;dr: Father threatens to put down family dog if he doesn't get weekend custody of the kids and wins custody in court.
#20
I practice law - not usually family law, but I have a case of my own right now.
My grade school-aged son took an entrance exam for a gifted student program. He has been offered a spot in the program, but it will require switching to a different school (within the district) next year if he joins. The program is well regarded in town - one person whose kids went through it described it to me as a "quality private school education for free."
I have to go to court in a few weeks to argue over whether our son should join the program. His mother - who signed him up for the test, and called it the most important day of his life - has now decided he shouldn't join it. I don't know why. She's made some half-hearted arguments that he couldn't handle it, and that she'd have to do too much driving. But I suspect it's just because I'm in favor of it.
This is getting me really down - it's a great opportunity for our son, and she just...doesn't want to agree.
#21
I have been in family law for over a decade and the most petty thing I have ever seen happen was that the wife from an affluent divorcing family had several trees planted on one side of a fence on the property and the husband wanted them planted on the other side of the exact same fence - about 5 feet from where the wife had them planted. He insisted that we file contempt against the wife for said tree plantings. They spent close to $50k in legal fees arguing over the stupid trees. It was incredulous!!! I have stories upon stories of people's pettiness but this one will always stand out for me!!!
Another REALLY petty one was a dad buying a money order for child support every month but not actually giving them to the mom. He gave us copies of all of the money orders he bought as evidence of the support he paid but she claimed she had never received them. Well that seemed stupid but no he had actually just kept them and then, like an idiot, gave the original months old money order to the mom to pay for the outstanding child support balance. He was definitely found in contempt!! People can be really ridiculous!!!
Parental fighting can also have long-term effects on kids. Research emphasizes that they may suffer from depression, anxiety, decreased cognitive performance, future relationship issues, behavior problems, eating disorders, physical issues such as headaches, or stomachaches.
They may also have an extremely negative outlook on life. Moreover, they may develop low self-esteem that can last into adulthood.
#22
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 refusing the wish on account of the argument it caused between the parents.
Just hearing about the details of this case messed me up for awhile.
Edit: formatting.
#23
Parents didn't let a kid get his college education because they were fighting over who was going to pay it. This includes cosigning on the predatory loans that everyone was rushing to sign up for.
The judge asked why either one didn't bring this up 6 months earlier when they new he was starting college. Both of them gave the same answer except from their perspective, something like the other parent is to blame because they didn't tell the parent about the bills. Apparently both new about the bills and the deadlines for the previous 3 months and expected the other to pay for it. The case wasn't raised in court until after the deadline for the next semester had passed.
The kid probably was forced to take loans on his own, god only knows his situation now. The parents ended up spending the same amount as the tution each in lawyer fees just for them both to have to pay half the tution.
Never get divorced.
#24
My first job out of law school was as a Trial Court Staff Attorney. This is basically a judicial law clerk, so we did a lot of research and advisory memos for judges. I didn't cover a family law docket, but my office mate did.
She got an Emergency Motion in a family law case one time. For the non-lawyers, these are filed when something is EXTREMELY time sensitive and critically important. If the judge deems it a true emergency, your matter will be heard on an expedited basis...they'll fast track you in for a hearing, usually in a matter of days, rather than the usual weeks/months it normally takes to get a hearing date.
Anyhow, this particular Emergency Motion was to compel the ex-spouse to send their child to Happy Faces Day Care, because if the child couldn't go to Happy Faces Day Care, it was going to be irreparably damaged from the lack of social exposure, etc.
Emergency. Happy Faces Day Care.
FML.
Needless to say, this was NOT an emergency. I don't know how the motion was ultimately ruled on, other than that it wasn't an emergency.
According to the experts at PsychCentral, if you want to truly emotionally divorce but keep getting pulled into yet another battle with your ex, here’s what you can do to get out of the intense but negative relationship:
- Focus on your children’s welfare.
- Resolve to drop your end of the battle.
- Decide that being divorced is more important than being “right.”
- Limit conversations to practical problems that must be solved.
- Identify your “hot buttons”: the issues, attitudes, or words that trigger your anger.
- Find and practice ways to avoid reacting to the pokes.
- Calmly and quietly return to the problem that needs solving.
- Let go of the idea that every encounter must result in absolute fairness.
#25
Canadian family lawyer here.
Many instances of pettiness. Generally, good family lawyers will call their client on their b******t. We don't want to be the lawyer standing in front of a judge over really petty things. Reputation is important.
Client - "My son is very mature for his age. I believe access to his mother should be per his discretion"
Me - "....your 2 year old son!?"
That said, I've had people call my office yelling that my client wouldn't allow them to pick up the infant child at 10 p.m. (only 4 hours late for a visit), one guy fire 2 previous lawyers and retain me to negotiate adding 3 meaningless words to a settlement (we're talking months of intense negotiations between counsel), one parent refuse to allow another parent to take kids on vacation because they wanted to take the child to Disney first, despite, you know, not having the funds to do so.
The most petty are the parents who phone CAS (child protection services) or the police for every minor disagreement. Your 2 year old cries when leaving your home? CALL CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES.
#26
Upon losing the house because he literally locked my mom out of their bedroom, garage, home office, and shed, my dad decided "the house" only meant the wood and brick. He took whatever appliances he could fit and, just for good measure, ripped the carpeting out of the bedroom. Or that he tried taking all of the family photos, including the ones of her relatives without her notice. She only found them because he forgot to lock the office door and I lied about locking it when he called to check. Jerk.
#27
Client's spouse of decades gets a terminal cancer diagnosis about half way into a fairly routine medium/high asset divorce. My client is such a viciously horrible person, saying they were glad that the spouse was sick, that the opposing party's literal last wish is to be divorced and never see a spouse of 30+ years again.
Well, dear pandas, that’s it from our end. I hope you never get stuck in such petty fights that drag you down. Which of these family feuds did you think were the most unhinged? And which ones made you sigh with relief that you are not a lawyer? Give them an upvote or write your thoughts in the comments! Also, you might want to check out this list of lawyers who saw people royally mess up!
#28
It wasn't my case, but I was waiting in the courtroom and heard a divorce hearing. The parties were having trouble reaching a full settlement agreement. The problem? They couldn't agree on custody. But not in the usual way. Each one of these self-absorbed adults couldn't seem to fit the four-year-old kid into their schedule. "I work Fridays, your honor, so I can't take him." "Yeah, Fridays aren't good for me, either. In fact, I'm usually on-call all weekend." "Me, too, but I have to miss Tuesdays in order to take him already, so she should have to take Fridays off."
Broke my heart.
#29
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.
#30
Family law attorney here a/k/a glorified babysitter.
Let's see:
One client said that father's visitation should be limited because his girlfriend's shirts are too low cut.
Another client was ordered to box up his wife's belongings (and some of the child's belongings) and hand it over to her (she had him arrested and moved out). When I followed up with him, he said all went smoothly - did as the Judge directed. When we get to court, opposing counsel informs the judge (with color photographs), that he boxed up garbage. Literally took garbage into stuffed each box with it. When I asked why he did that, he said "my wife only owned garbage. That's what she left behind."
Same client - who was actually the worst client I ever had - once threatened to call child protective services and allege that the mother was neglecting and mistreating their daughter. The problem was that there was a full stay-away criminal court order of protection against him (in favor of the mom and child). I told him that if CPS deems that to be true, his daughter might end up with the state. His response: then so be it. Let her go to foster care.
Same guy used to whisper "drop" every time his wife walked by us in court.
#31
A client having a complete meltdown over not understanding that "first and third Saturdays of each month" that she insisted on is not the same as "every other Saturday", since sometimes there are 5 Saturdays in a month; amounting to a 2 day a year visitation difference.
She was also very upset that her baby-daddy left her for a white woman.
#32
I am an assistant to a family attorney and Jesus Christ, people are petty jerks. Both Men and Women equally, by the way.
I would say the most frequent is not allowing the other parent to take the kids to Disneyland or to visit their grandparents out of state. Literally going to court to prevent them from doing that.
It happens sooooooo muuuuuuuch! They don't care about whether or not the child has fun, they just want to sabotage the other parent for moving on. Some people just can't let go of their exes, even if they are the ones that left. Kids are just tools for revenge. The revenge they want is for their offspring to resent the other parent as much as they do.
I realized that family law is such a huge industry because there are so many petty jerks and all out psychos that exist. The funny thing is that these people are your friends and co-workers, you would just never know how they are with their families. Not everyone is as chill as they seem.
#33
My parents got divorced a year or so ago. During the mediation my dad refused to let my brother get his license to drive himself and our youngest brother to school. Instead it was agreed that I would take them to school during the weeks they were with my mom (every other week), which I wasn't thrilled about because they're school is 25 miles away from my mom's house.
My dad then demanded that he would only agree if it was added that I have a medical substances card and I was not "allowed" to smoke the day before or day of driving them.
My mom's lawyer promptly had that removed. She said having my name associated with substances in a legal document, legal medical state or not, could possibly have a negative impact on me for life. The attorney said she was confused how it was relevant.
Real stand up guy, my pops is.
#34
This is from a Family Court judge, who is actually now in my State's highest court:
Wife comes in pretending she can't speak any english.
She didn't know the judge spoke fluently in her ethnic language.
She was in for quite a shock when he started trying to speak to her.
He was pretty pissed at the antics.
#35
A long time ago friend's parents got divorced. I remember my mother telling me that the divorce agreement stated that as soon as the ex-wife made $X/week (she worked as a substitute teacher for years, finally found a perm position when the kids were older) the child support would drop by X%. Ex-wife assumed that meant only for the week she had the higher income. Nope. Permanent.
I remember my mother saying that the ex-wife had a horrible, horrible lawyer. The ex-husband had a long affair, which brought about the divorce, although looking back now and meeting this woman as an adult, I seriously wonder if the ex-wife was trying to act straight and the husband was like, "Nope, out of here." No real idea, though.
#36
Child of Divorce and if parents would actually look out for what is best for their kids instead of trying to sabotage each other this world would be better. I hope I am never a family court judge because I would insist on crazy stuff to get my point across and all children would have a court appointed lawyer that looked out for the kids not trying to get parents to agree to a deal.
#37
Not the most petty, but one I remember. I had a client who negotiated to keep the marital home, but had to make a 40k payment to her spouse as part of the deal.
I scheduled a meeting in my office, to be joined by my client, the adversary (ex spouse), and opposing counsel. I confirmed with her repeatedly that she was coming to the meeting, and confirmed with her repeatedly that she was bringing a bank or cashier's check for the amount, as specifically directed in the property settlement agreement.
Day comes and she's running late. We're sitting around my conference table passing time. A bunch of guys knock on the door to the conference room - they looked like they were movers, from the way they were dressed - and walk in, carrying duffel bags which they set down on my table. Lots and lots and lots of duffel bags. She had taken the money out in singles.
Opposing counsel was understandably livid. I informed my client that I would no longer be representing her.
#38
When I was working for a family attorney during law school, one of the parties reached up her dress, pulled out her tampon, and threw it at her husband.
She may have won the argument (?) but she definitely didn't look good when the story came up during custody hearings.
#39
I am the employer for a mother who is going through child support hearings. She has retained sole custody of the children for more than 10 years and finally was awarded child support. The ex husband has not paid and is instead bringing charges against said mom for "unfit parenting", claiming the children live with HIM and pursuing HER for the child support instead. Yes, this IS happening. I am now tasked with responding as an employer and character witness(although happy to do it for her) to prove that she does not travel for a living and leave the children (teenagers) to fend for themselves nightly.
#40
Not family court lawyer, but family friend going through custody battle. She was trying to file for full custody (however she's nuts) the couple has twins. The night before it was her day she texts her ex "hey can I just have twin 1? I really can't handle twin 2."
She's discussed how she likes one twin more, that twin has coped better with this messy divorce. The other one has definitely shown some behaviors (my mom babysat for the husband who is a close friend when he was trying to figure out his schedule) good news is, looks like dad might be getting full custody!
#41
Late to the thread and likely buried, but oh well.
The dad had visitations on every Saturday. Mom would keep the kid up all Friday night so all the kid would want to do during dad day is sleep, as opposed to any bonding father son time.
#42
Parents had an ongoing battle over their kid's clothing. Both were angry at each other for keeping "their" clothes for the kid. This is more common than you might think.
Anyway, my client went to an exchange (at Dunkin Donuts) and mom made the child go to the bathroom and get into the dirty clothes my client had sent the child to her with, rather than allowing dad to take the clothes that belonged to her.
You can bet that we used that at our next evidentiary hearing.
#43
Fight about a taxidermied dog (personal property, zero objective value). Husband has it, both want it. At a temporary order hearing, parties ask for a decision as to who has TEMPORARY possession of the taxidermied dog. Family court commissioner orders that wife gets to hold on to the taxidermied dog, for now. A date/time is set for the parties to exchange it. After the hearing, husband goes home, burns the taxidermied dog in the fireplace.
#44
One of my former cases come to mind right away:
I represented a mom who, despite my constant advice to the contrary, was constantly trying to get the dad arrested to improve her position in the custody battle over their two kids.
Before I took her case, she had successfully obtained a restraining order against the dad (I later strongly suspected her allegations were fabricated). It became apparent she had not gotten the restraining order for safety reasons, but rather to harass and mess with the dad.
On one occasion, the mom convinced her teenage babysitter (whom she later confessed to being in a relationship with, but that's a whole other story) to call the dad, frantically claiming that one of the kids had stopped breathing. The babysitter told the dad she had called 911, but they had not shown up yet. The dad, understandably panicked beyond belief, rushed to the mom's house, to try to save his child. What he was unaware of was the fact that the mom had planned the whole thing, and had herself called the police and said that the dad was threatening to come to her house to harm her. When the dad arrived at the house to try to help his child, the police were already there waiting for him, and he spent the weekend in jail for violating the restraining order.
Later the same week, the mom paid a relative to plant illegal substances in the dad's car, while she tipped off the cops, in hopes of getting the dad sent to jail and losing all custody and visitation of the kids. Fortunately, the relative got cold feet at the last minute, and confessed the plan to the dad.
To this day, that was the only client I ever dropped due to their morally repugnant actions.
#45
My divorce was nasty. He couldn't keep a job, constantly getting written up for being late for work, prior to the divorce, at one point he'd been on time 2 days in a 6 week period. I still have the write ups somewhere. He demanded alimony and for me to pay for his health insurance for the rest of his life, plus he wanted my entire retirement account. He wanted sole custody of the boys. He refused to work more than 15 hours per week stating that he couldn't find anything else. Child support for 2 kids was 300 a month. My job pays ok and I had good insurance at least but alimony would have been 900 a month and his insurance another 700 out of pocket. It was more than half of my income. We'd have been homeless under an overpass if he'd have had his way.
In the end he got 1/2 of my retirement, no alimony and no insurance. He paid 150 in child support because my oldest son told him "he didn't want his money" and then moved in with my parents (he was 18, support, in our state goes until the child's 19th birthday). So glad that's all behind me.
#46
Got a matter at the moment.
Act for the Father. Every time the Father does something that the Mother doesn't like she withholds the children.
Mother wanted to take the children out of the school they had been since kindy and move an hour away. Father didn't agree. Father doesn't get to see them for 3 months whilst we get proceedings on foot.
Prior to that that Father hadn't agreed to some other silly demand so she witheld the children for another 3 months.
The Father is currently suffering from bowel cancer as an added bonus so whether he will pull through and how long he will have left with the children is a serious issue.
The family courts at least here in Australia are extremely slow beasts, underfunded, underresourced and getting anywhere when one parent is completely unreasonable is extremely difficult.
#47
Paralegal for a family lawyer.
We just finished a case where the father gave up all parental rights because he didn't get as much child support as he wanted.
#48
I watched a mom and dad argue over whether or not their child could read a darn book for school. Mom's attorney wanted her daughter to read the book... and the father (through his attorney) was objecting to it. The Judge held a 15 minute hearing to consider arguments.
As this was going on... I was waiting to go up next to see if my client would be spending the next 30 days in prison for not paying his child support. Puts everything in perspective.
#49
My friend's ex had him arrested and thrown in jail, where he had to wait an entire weekend to get out. His crime? He went to their kid's daycare in order to take a picture of said kid so he could e-mail it to his mom on Mothers' Day on a non-custodial day. She's a piece of work.
#50
I usually just lurk but I have one. SO used to tell me stories of her petty father and (awesome)mothers court battles of child support. Her mother has always had health issues but still worked hard to keep food on the table and a roof over her and her brothers head. The father would always bring the mother back to court as much as possible to get it reduced from a petty 25 dollars a week. Eventually after a few years her lawyer hired a PI and found out he was hiding a business from the courts (and state) and his child support went through the roof. Pretty sure he got in legal trouble over it as well.
#51
My dad is a family court judge. One family, going through custody battle, was so salty the ex wife gave their son a bad haircut so that he would look bad in her ex husbands new wedding photos.
#52
Have a buddy going through a bad break up with 2 kids. The mom tried to have him served custody papers a day before his daughter's bday, but he wasn't home. Only way he found out about it was the neighbor told him.
During the bday he asks the mom what's up with her trying to serve him papers when they were trying to be civil about the kids. She says "oh don't worry about it, I'm not going to follow through."
He finds out months later he had a default judgment against him (no show) and she legally has full custody. Even though he still has the kids like 5 days a week, takes them to school, and practices.
So now he has to sell a car to hire a lawyer to find out what the hell happened with this judgment against him.
#53
When I was a kid and my parents were divorcing, my dad filed many lawsuits against my mother for anything and everything. When I was 10 years old, he even told me he was going to take me to court in a lawsuit because I didn't want to go visit him.
#54
Father wanted full custody of his child. The child was in the full mother's custody. The child has diabetes. Both parents must fill a daily glucose intake measured by a glucometer. Every time the father dropped the child at the mother's place, he would buy a Snickers or Twix on the way there and feed it to the kid. Then we flipped out the glucose measurements during court. Due to the measurements being extremely high when the child was at his mom's place, we were able to get the child to the father's full custody. I didn't know what he was doing. I certainly didn't advise him to do it. He just brought it to the courthouse and ordered me to present it. Either that or that time during divorce a guy had exact knowledge of how many toilet paper sheets his wife was overusing and how many liters of warm water she overused.
#55
One guy was a total control freak. He'd gone to the Philippines and "romanced" his now ex-wife, brought her back to Australia and then expected her to do everything for him, pop out his kids, etc etc. When she left him, he manipulated her into believing that they would share care of the kids, and they didn't need court orders - then behind her back he went to court, obtained "sole custody" of the kids and basically cut her out.
Then when she was back on her feet and could finally go back to court and try to get her kids back, he said she was an adult worker, among other things. He said the kids were learning that behaviour from her, despite the fact that he was living in a trailer/caravan/modified shipping container (something like that), with no actual walls between the kids' room and the bedroom he shared with his new partner. And the mother was living in a house with bedrooms and doors.
Real nice guy.
In the end, he didn't use a lawyer, so he was completely steamrolled in court - his court documents were laughable, literally everything that had ever gone wrong with the kids was the mother's fault - and he now sees the kids once a fortnight instead of having them live with him full time. So there's a way not to do things.
Also, hilariously, one of the things he said in court was that he knew when he was impregnating the mother, because he can control himself. Riiiiiight.
#56
This happened in January. Guy was straight out of jail (2 years) and of course at that point, his marriage was rocky as hell. When his wife dropped his kids off to visit (he lived with his parents for parole purposes) the son said his uncle hit him. The father then filed a PFA against the wife and uncle. It was granted. Then he files for sole custody. It was granted. The kids were in his custody for about 2 months before the custody hearing.
Of course, my boss threw me the file and I had to handle the mediation and last minute prep.
At mediation, the father and wife sit angry eyed. Literally, each cross armed and furious. The other lawyer and I discuss the facts and what arrangement each client wants briefly in another room. We come out and our clients are gone. Magically, and praise the Lord, in the course of 10 minutes of me and the lawyer talking, the father and mother made up, made out in the corner of the hallway and returned. The case was dropped.
May I mention, this was pro bono? PA jurisdiction, too.
#57
I've seen some nonsense pettiness but the best story i have is actually from my guardian ad litem professor. when she was practicing, she had a client whose ex-wife was SUPER DUPER jerk about getting ALL of the children's clothes back from his house when she got the kids back from him. like, if one sock was left behind all hell would break loose. so this guy's solution was to make the children take off their clothes in the foyer, and put on clothes specifically worn at his place when it was his turn to have them. then when they went back to mom's, they had to do it again and change back into the clothes she sent them there in.
#58
A cousin of mine (Let's call her T to protect her) had a marriage and three kids (K, L, and I) with a man I hated so much I think I've intentionally forgotten his name, so we'll call him F for...you can guess.
Because of this story.
Child number three (I) was born with serious issues that were luckily diagnosed and tended to quickly. She's suffered no lasting damage but can't digest normal proteins. No meat for her, medically. She has a tube in her stomach, and when younger, it had to be through her nose. This made I a pretty cranky baby and self-conscious toddler.
In short, they split when she was 2 or 3, and this Man (I use the term EXTREMELY loosely) petitioned for custody of the kids.
Actually, just K and L. T could keep I.
Thankfully the Judge ruled as any of us would when he heard.
#59
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. He 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 guns. Full custody was given to my mom who moved us out of state.
I don't speak with him anymore.
#60
Family law is depressing. Worst I've seen is still ongoing: dad files emergency petitions every time a new court order is about to be signed because "he didn't agree" to the terms his own darn lawyer set per his wishes. Mom withholds the child from visitation (in contempt of court) if the dad's wife is present at the exchange. As in, she'll pull into the parking lot and if she sees anyone besides the dad, she peels out. Both have filed restraining orders against the other, which they later rescinded. Their last court order was 18! pages long (typically 2 to 3 at most for custody orders) because it is nauseatingly specific about each aspect of their interactions.
God help me if I get dragged back into the middle of their case again.
#61
When Mom and Dad shared joint custody, Mom went to the child's daycare and told them I (stepmom) was not allowed to pick up the child. I had to get the police involved. As long as Dad had me on the list and their was no restraining order, I was allowed.
Mom also got EXTREMELY mad when Dad found out who her kindergarten teacher was. Again, they shared JOINT custody.
#62
Family law paralegal. The instance that sticks out:
1.) Man and woman going through divorce. They seemed reasonable and agreed on division of everything. The last item was kids. This promoted a full week of argument between both sides. They had 3 kids (4, 9, and 10), but they both only mentioned Josie when it came to kids. I researched this as none of the kids were named this or anything close. My attorney finally inquired as to whom Josie was. Josie was the cat. These people gave zero care for their real children, and were screaming at each other over the family cat.
#63
A applicant husband served respondent wife with an application for spousal support. When she attended with her lawyer to contest his application he ran out of the court room and called the police. He had her breached because there was an existing no contact order between parties (they got scrappy), and she had failed to get permission from her probation order. It was horrible to watch her escorted away in handcuffs.
#64
My sister interned at a family court and there was a case where the child's shoes were untied so the mom asked the dad to tie them. He didn't want to so she pulled a gun on him. In response he pulled his gun. So they were both pointing guns at other in front of their kid because they didn't want to tie her shoes.
#65
This didnt happen to me but my co-worker. he got custody of his kid because the mom was institutionalized. she got out and is trying to get custody of the kid back so she can keep getting the child support. he has proof she neglects the kid, doesnt feed him doesnt clothe him, and has messages and e mails from her own family saying she is crazy. but she is still fighting for custody.
#66
I interned with a family court judge in college. I swear, day one, a guys ex wife jumped on her husbands back and bit his neck Dracula style at the lunch recess.
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