Appalling Level Of Pettiness
“I have stories upon stories of people’s pettiness but this one will always stand out for me!
This dad was buying a money order for child support every month and even had receipts as proof. But the mom swore she wasn’t getting them. I honestly wasn’t sure who was telling the truth. Who would meticulously and pettily collect receipts of fake child support? Who would bring the father of their child to court and not cash the child support their child needed just to hurt their ex?
It turns out the dad had been buying money orders in her name and then keeping the useless money order. He would rather spite her than pay for his child to have new shoes!”–
2) “I represented a mom who was constantly trying to get the dad arrested to ‘win’ the custody battle.
She had successfully obtained a restraining order against the dad, not for safety, but to make his life difficult.
The mom then convinced the teenage babysitter (who she was sleeping with) to…
Trying To Get The Husband Arrested?
…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 drugs 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.”
The Evil Dad That Threatened The Family Dog!
“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 euthanized. His excuse was that without the kids there, the dog wouldn’t get the attention it needed and was better off dead.
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 to refer 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.”
Putting The Child’s Health In Danger
“The father wanted full custody of his child. The child was in full mother’s custody. The child also has diabetes. And because of the child’s diabetes, both of the parents must fill a daily glucose intake measured by glucometer. Every time the father dropped the child at mom’s house, he would buy a Snickers or Twix on the way there and feed it to the kid. Then we flipped out the glucose measurings during court. Due to the measurings being extremely high when the child was at mom’s, 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 where during the 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.”
Adding Up All The Time She Was Late To Get Her Son…
“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.”
How Dare His Daughter Have Fun At Disney World!
“So many I don’t know which to choose.
A father once called me because his ex-wife was planning to take their daughter to Disney World. He said he was concerned she might decide to stay there and he wouldn’t know how to contact his daughter. Right, it’s not because your kid might have fun with mom, it’s because of the epidemic of people who just don’t come back from Disney. Sounds legit.
A mother, who had (for good cause) lost custody of her children for the foreseeable future, wouldn’t let them retrieve their clothes and stuff from her house because she claimed, she would never get it back.
A dad, who made ~90% of the parents’ combined income, tried to get the court to force mom to pay her (~10%) share of their teenage son’s car insurance costs, because of reasons. I did the math; her share came out to less than $.25 per day. This after she had to go to court to get him to pay his share of the kid’s educational expenses.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen a parent tell the judge they’d rather pay the cost of a babysitter than let the child spend more time with the other parent who was willing, able, and eager to watch the kid. Of course, they always want the other parent to pay their share of the babysitter cost, too. Of course.
Another popular one: divorce seems to be the leading cause of very successful businesses suddenly and mysteriously tanking. ‘Business is great! What’s that? My ex-spouse might be entitled to a portion of my business? Oh, uh, this business ain’t doing so good no more. The economy, you know. Tough times’.”
He Expected Her To Give Him All The Kids He Wanted?
“One guy was a total control freak.
He’d gone abroad and ‘romanced’ his now ex-wife, brought her back to Australia and then expected her to be a slave for him, pop out his kids, 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 entertainer, among other things. He said the kids were learning sexualized behavior 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.”
They Were Both Cheating On Each Other…
“Well, my girlfriend is a family lawyer. She had a pair from Eastern Europe (we’re in Ontario) who wanted a divorce. There was a long fight over what the husband’s assets were, he claimed to be living on less than $12,000 cash/year.
The wife actually hired a private detective, eventually found that he was hiding another home, won a big settlement. My girlfriend is really happy (note: she doesn’t get a penny of the settlement or bonus or extra pay; she just liked seeing the liar caught).
But, the wife STILL isn’t happy. She claims the husband is hiding, even more, money. Like she keeps badgering him with more legal stuff, even though my girlfriend is telling her, ‘You won, let it be’. Then, the husband hires a private investigator, finds out the wife is the joint owner of another house with her new boyfriend.
The settlement gets invalidated.
My girlfriend immediately got off the record and refused to help the woman anymore.”
The Judge Told The Parents To Grow Up!
“I witnessed a case in court (while waiting for my client’s case to be called) that was pretty dang petty.
The mom had filed a motion to modify custody and visitation (I believe this was at least the 20th time she had done so) for their daughter. Mom and dad had approximately 50/50 timeshare, and IIRC.
The mom wanted her alternating weekends with daughter to start at 8:00 AM Fridays, instead of 3:00 PM. As the daughter was in school from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM, this change, even if granted, would have no practical effect whatsoever.
The most absurd part of the whole thing was that the daughter was less than two months from graduating high school, and a week from turning 18.
The judge let both parents shout over one another for about 5-10 minutes, then sighed loudly and told both of them to ‘grow up’ and not come back to her courtroom.”
They Made Up By Making Out?
“This happened in January.
The guy was straight out of jail (2 years) and of course at that point, his marriage was extremely rocky. 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.”
Pettiness Towards His Daughter’s Wedding?
“This story was not exactly petty against the other parent, but petty against the rest of the petty parent’s family.
Father demanded access to youngest three children to attend adult daughter’s wedding interstate. Father’s wife made children decide between attending the wedding or going to a theme park holiday (children chose the wedding, for what it’s worth).
Three days before the wedding, the father’s wife calls the father’s mother (so the bride’s grandmother) and tells her that the bride and grandmother are horrible people and they would never see the younger children ever again.
Because it was three days notice the mother couldn’t do anything legally and the children missed the wedding.
Grandmother forwarded the messages to the mother’s lawyer, along with letters from herself, the bride and the bride’s mother stating that the father is essentially a slug (slimy, spineless, you get the idea) and the step-mother is manipulative at best (emotionally abusive is more likely).”
They Don’t Consider Their Childrens’ Feelings
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“I’m training to be a lawyer but I have a case in my own family right now.
Aunt and uncle are getting a divorce for various reasons – uncle supposedly had an affair with a woman he’d been in a relationship with before marrying my aunt, him harassing and verbally/physically abusing my aunt and her father the granddad (who lives with them), scaring their two kids and so on.
The divorce is mutual but the splitting up of assets, custody etc isn’t. He’s tried everything in his power to claim everything he can from my aunt, from bank accounts to the house they lived in. My aunt moved away and lives in pretty much the middle of nowhere with her family atm, to get away from it all.
Uncle is acting like a lunatic, aunt is frightened of him and the kids are terrified. He’s turned up at their school before demanding to see the kids, is abusive and nasty even at court (he yelled that he didn’t agree with what was going on at the last hearing and walked out — judge didn’t tolerate his nonsense and literally just went ‘well too bad I don’t care what he thinks’).
He’s accused my aunt of being an unfit mother because she’s always at work (she’s a doctor and has a really senior and prestigious position and travels often) but the court found she’s fit enough. Then he tried to accuse the granddad of being unfit and dangerous as he’s 72, on the basis that he has weak eyes or something because he was involved in a car crash.
He even accused the granddad of abusing his 7-year-old kid and insisted that both kids were born of incest between the granddad and the aunt because they are too close. She’s his DAUGHTER, of course they’re close. He’s always been there for her and now he takes care of her kids when she’s at work. Just…how? Like what kind of screwed up person do you have to be to go there?
The kids don’t want to see him but he has visitation, under supervision. My female cousin who is 11 cries when he is around and last time apparently on his last visit locked herself in the toilet and didn’t come out til he had left. My 7-year-old cousin keeps muttering ‘I want to kill him’. Can you imagine how devastating it is to hear a kid say that?
I’m not sure what’s going on there at the moment, just that the process is ongoing and he has visitation every two weeks or something. He’s petty and screwed up and is trying to ruin any credibility my aunt and granddad have.
It’s petty and disgusting that he goes to such lengths and doesn’t really give a care about his own kids, He can’t see that they’re terrified and hate him. And I can see how much it’s affected them, they’re really withdrawn unless they’re with family members. How petty do you have to be to try and ruin the lives of your own kids?
I think my aunt and granddad are trying to stop visitation, which is difficult as he’s their father. But they’re hoping social services can see what a train wreck this whole situation is and to not put the kids through this anymore. I think my granddad mentioned something about a psychologist.. the fact that my cousins have to deal with this at their age is just horrifying.
It’s petty when parents are too busy trying to ruin each other and don’t look at the effect it has on their children.”
Abiding By Dad’s Ridiculous Rules
“Some friends of mine divorced, and the dad went a little overboard.
There was Dad’s House Stuff and Mom’s House stuff.
When the two boys would go to Dad’s, they would have to strip down naked just inside the front door, stuff all their Mom’s House clothes in their backpacks, and wear all of Dad’s House clothes.
The dad would then take the backpacks out to the shed, where they would stay for the duration of the visit. There was nothing from Mom’s House allowed in Dad’s House at ALL, and the backpacks were completely off-limits.
At the end of visitation, Dad would retrieve the backpacks, they kids would again strip naked, and then re-clothe themselves in Mom’s House clothes, before they went back to Mom’s.
Before Mom caught on and sent them with a change of clothes, they would have to re-attire themselves in the same dirty socks and underwear they wore on the way in.
Everything was duplicated. There were Dad’s House and Mom’s House bikes. Video games. Clothes. Everything.
One day Dad called Mom screaming and irate because Adam was reading a book at Mom’s house, and was really into it. Dad was angry because he had to go out and buy a copy of the book. How DARE Mom buy ANYTHING for his son without running it past him first, so that he could purchase a duplicate.
The kids would be interrogated every visit.
Questions included: What does Mom feed them? Which TV shows were they allowed to watch? What did Mom do with you last weekend? Oh, you went to a movie? Well, get in the car, we’re going to a movie, too.
He was SUPER angry at the courts. She was a stay-at-home Mom during the marriage, and he gave up the house in lieu of alimony but kicked child support.
After the divorce, she went back to her previous employer and re-ignited her career, bringing in a nice salary. He was a dentist and made partner in the practice.
He applied to the court to lower his child support, claiming that Mom’s significant income should change the equation. The courts agreed that the equation should change, all right, seeing as he was making a lot more money as a partner, he should be paying MORE in support. So THAT backfired.
All in all, he would take the pettiest little molehill and turn it into a mountain, every time.”
Their Child Couldn’t Attend University…
“Parents didn’t let a kid get his college education because they were fighting over who was going to pay for it. This includes co-signing 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 knew he was starting college. Both of them gave the same answer, except, from their own personal 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 tuition each in lawyer fees just for them both to have to pay half the tuition.
Never get divorced.”