Divorce is a serious situation for all individuals and families that are involved. The stories below are meant to take a step back and laugh, cringe, and realize what can go on in a divorce. If you are thinking about a divorce please contact Deborah Besserman, a Madison County and St. Clair County, Illinois divorce lawyer, who also specializes in personal injury law.
Family law paralegal here. One time we 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 this woman- contacting attorneys in the Deep South of MX and writing out very clear instructions to get back her kids. It turns out our client hadstabbed her husband because he confronted her about sleeping with his brother. The husband packed up and took the kids.
My father did divorce law for many years.
We were in Virginia Beach for a tournament I was in with a friend of mine and his father. This is back around 07
My dad got a call from a forensic accountant he hired to track down some accounts his client knew her husband stashed money in. He was asked to pull over and to put him on speaker because he would not believe what he was about to tell him. The accountant traced all of his money to 3 bank accounts totaling over $300 million in another country.
My friend's father screamed, my father dropped his phone and there were numerous "WTF!!!" From the back seat.
My father's client made out with 2 of the 3 accounts and they walked away silently. He was paid in full, given a small bonus and has never heard from her again.
A friend who is a lawyer told me a pretty crazy story about a wealthy couple splitting up. The woman hid millions of dollars overseas and cut up all her husband's clothing with a pair of scissors. These shennanigans caused her to get almost nothing.
I saw a very interesting post in a personal finance Askreddit thread last week about a man who figured out how to hide money from his soon to be ex.
Over a period of time before his impending divorce, he over-paid his credit cards by a significant amount and then had a credit of 100k. He then had them write him a check for the credit. Which made the balance appear to be 0 (for the lawyers) but then wouldn't cash the check.
Divorce lawyer here. I've never had anything too crazy. The worst I can think of is representing my client who had to be transported from the jail for (allegedly) violating the restraining order between the two.
There was another one that was technically a dissolution of domestic partnership (not a divorce, but essentially the same thing for never married parties) that was fairly crazy. Client alleged her ex had killed a man and reported it to the police, but I guess they never found the body. Also alleged his attorney was sleeping with him.
One of my co-workers had a case where the ex was awarded the couples' dog in the divorce only to have it euthanized just so the other would suffer more. I don't care how bad your relationship is, there is no excuse for that.