14 Times Divorce Lawyers Didn't Hold ANYTHING Back, And Confessed The Absolute Worst Things They've Seen Married Couples Do
Reddit user u/Dr_THC asked divorce lawyers of the community: "What's the best secret couples have kept from one another?" And wooooaaaahhh, baby, did they spill some juicy ones! I honestly had no idea what went down in the divorce process, and these stories were truly informative (to say the least).
So, here are some truly bonkers secrets couples kept from one another, straight from divorce lawyers:
Note: Some stories were pulled from this Reddit thread by user u/DarkFander14.
Warning: Some stories include topics of child sexual abuse and bestiality. Please proceed with caution.
1."A husband who lived on the east coast had a listed income of $1.5 million. He cheated on his wife 10 times. Almost at the end of the divorce process, it was learned that the husband had another family in Seattle, a different name, and another $14 million salary in tech (his vested stock options under the second identity were worth $214 million). How was he discovered living this double life? His wife in Seattle posted a picture on Facebook and tagged him with his west coast name. The east coast wife similarly posted a photograph of him, and the facial recognition assigned him a possible name: his west coast name. Eventually, the two wives got in touch. But wait, there's more! He had a THIRD wife and family in the Czech Republic and moved there to avoid family court — he's being pursued for extradition."
2."My client was an elderly gentleman (some type of retired professional). His son was a pastor. Everything about his situation seemed very 'normal' in terms of income and property. However, it turned out he had a pretty serious porn hobby, and he was concerned his wife would find out and use it against him in the divorce. I assured him that was pretty run-of-the-mill these days and unlikely to affect anything. He then asked if I felt the same knowing that porn is not 'mainstream.' I asked what he meant, and he looked very nervous. I wanted to make sure he wasn't referencing child pornography, so I pushed him on it. The guy was into goats."
3."Part of my previous job was reviewing the details of divorce decrees for people trying to get money to start businesses. They are usually pretty generic, especially in no-fault states. About 10 years ago, I got this one where it was an at-fault state at the time of the divorce, and it laid out the whole backstory — the husband was a physician, and the wife was a hairstylist. The husband lied about having a long-term disease to the wife and her family. He used this lie to leave his job and stayed home for years while the wife took on multiple jobs and tried to support him on her income alone. They found out he was lying, and she filed for divorce. He was ordered by the judge to immediately seek employment as a doctor, and pay the wife alimony based on his theoretical salary."
4."I work in the court system. One case that came in was a couple divorcing on mutual terms (the husband had one child with her, and the wife had a child from a previous marriage). He agreed to pay child support for both children — I guess he really cared enough to support her even though it wasn't his obligation. The judge signed the order, they went to set up the child support account, and it got kicked back saying you can’t have two accounts for one child. It turned out she was collecting child support from the biological father the entire time and never told him. She basically tried to milk two fathers for one child, and the other attorney knew about it."
5."In Australia, a divorcing husband hid over $10 million by making an over payment to the tax office. The auditors thought it was a tax payment, but six months later, it was refunded with a base-interest rate. Since then, auditors have caught on to this."
6."I got a buddy who practices divorce law, and he told me this doozy. This guy came into his office saying he needed representation, and my buddy (who was fresh from law school) was willing to take on any paying case. The guy stated that he was the victim, and his wife 'blindsided' him with divorce paperwork less than a year into their marriage. I guess the dude's wife had some serious cash, and would be flexing some muscle. After a few weeks, he got a call from an arbitrator from the wife's attorney who set up a meeting — he thought they were interested in settling in the best interest of the husband. The dude and my buddy showed up, and I guess things went completely sideways. He found out the guy had a bunch of nasty secrets he failed to mention."
"The wife suspected the husband was cheating, so she checked his phone one night while he was sleeping. The guy was definitely talking to another 'woman,' who happened to be the 15-year-old daughter of one of his ex-coworkers (these exchanges included lots of nudes). The wife got the explicit texts, but not the photos, since it would've been distributing child porn.
The guy went pale-white and began to sweat. My buddy asked if this was true, and the dude started stammering (clearly figuring out he was screwed). My buddy told him it was in his best interest to settle and not pursue his wanted settlement. After this was said and done, the guy admitted defeat. My buddy ended up hiring debt collectors because the dude refused to pay through 'normal' means."
7."For a while, a woman concealed that she accidentally burned down the kitchen (her husband was no longer living there). After he found out (which only happened because he happened to drive past the house), she accused me of telling him and otherwise colluding with him to ruin her. She also threatened to strangle my secretary — she's in my top-five horrible client list."
8."My husband's uncle (they're close to the same age) was going through a divorce. His wife had just packed up her stuff and their kids and moved out one day while he was at work. Come to find out, a few weeks before she left, she'd won a $5,000-a-week-for-life lottery ticket. She thought she could divorce him without splitting her winnings — that didn't work out very well for her."
9."Early in my career, my then-boss would take a divorce case from time to time to help out a friend or acquaintance, and I would assist on occasion. For any type of litigation, the parties exchange written questions as part of discovery. I was reviewing the wife's answers to her discovery requests, and assisted the husband with answering his questions. We got to the part where it asked about engaging in extramarital sexual relations. The husband told me that he recently saw a sex worker, but 'don't worry, it was in Canada — so it's okay.' I just nodded and took notes."
"In going over the wife's answers, she listed bestiality as a factor that led to the breakdown of the relationship. I asked the husband about this (because I have to know what other issues would've come to light), and he told me he got really drunk one night after they separated, called her up, and told her he 'fucked a goat.'
But, he swore he didn't actually do that. I was really professional and kept a straight face during the meeting, but my boss and I laughed about that for ages."
10."A husband gambled away $70,000 of their marital savings, and the wife didn't know until she filed for divorce. She hit him in the head with a hammer, and was arrested."
11."My aunt was a divorce attorney for decades before becoming a judge. The biggest whammo was a guy who was stealing his wife's undergarments and wearing them. She thought he was just having an affair."
12."The guy didn't want to break up with his girlfriend — she kept 'nagging him' about marriage. But, he didn't want to marry her. So, he told her they'd have a 'destination wedding' on a tropical island with a local ceremony, and it'd be very romantic. And they did, except he just hired some resort staff member to pretend to officiate a marriage ceremony, and no marriage contract was ever drawn up. The guy died years later, his 'wife' found out they were never married, and wasn't in the will."
13."My friend's dad was a divorce lawyer. He told us a story about a couple who fought over Beanie Babies, and hid the 'rare' ones from each other."
14.And: "I articled at a family law firm, and have thankfully moved on since. The worst I saw was a decades-long case. The husband had been in a motorcycle accident and suffered brain damage. He had severely limited capacity going forward, and got a huge settlement afterwards. His wife spent the next several years stealing the entirety of the guy's money and property variously by forging his signature or putting documents in front of him that he couldn't understand, telling him they were something benign so he'd sign them. She then forged a bunch of letters from a tax authority, and convinced him he was about to go to jail and further convinced him to flee the country. He finally came back several years later to find out everything he owned was in her name, and one of the documents he was told to sign were divorce papers. The dude was left with nothing. I moved on before I found out how the story ended."
Note: Some stories have been edited for length and/or clarity.
