As the founder of an award-winning online divorce platform that has helped thousands of people navigate the legal system, I have seen my fair share of crazy divorces! From dog "support" to sex tapes, here are five of the wildest divorce stories we've seen (names changed for privacy).
*Note: All ex-couples approved this post.
I do, I don't, I'm confused
Divorcing the wrong person?
Jenna signed up to use Hello Divorce to end her marriage to Mike. All was well until halfway through the process when Jenna found out she was actually divorcing the wrong person. How is that even possible? It turns out, years ago, Jenna got married on the spur of the moment in Vegas ... but not to Mike. That time, Elvis declared Jenna and Josh husband and wife. By the time the hangover wore off, so did the novelty of the marriage, and Jenna and Josh went their separate ways. They never lived together and hardly spoke again, but they also never divorced! That meant Jenna was in a bigamous marriage with Mike. Whoops! Jenna started her divorce over. This time, with Josh.
The ole' switcheroo
Gender change, name change, and divorce
I now pronounce you husband and wife. I mean husband and husband. Nope: wife and husband. I think.
In this case of whiplash, a super nice couple, Nikki and Alejandro, came to Hello Divorce seeking an amicable divorce. All the details of their divorce had already been worked out. Sounds easy enough, right? Not so fast. This couple chose a do-it-for-both-of-you option, which was expected to be procedurally simple. And it was, until one month into the divorce process when Nikki received a court order legally changing his gender and name. The divorce was amended to reflect that Alejandro was divorcing Nik.
Just before we finalized the divorce, another change! Alejandro transitioned to Alex. We loved that they were honoring their truths, and we wanted to support them as much as possible. But we all had a good laugh over the confusion the clerks must have experienced when reviewing the pleadings. The divorce was amended once again to reflect the ending of Nik and Alex's marriage. The best news? We were able to get all of the divorce paperwork through without either of them having to attend court. Not bad when you're dealing with an archaic, opaque bureaucracy!
Three legal parents, two rowdy children, and one divorce in a pear tree
Splitting parent time and support three ways
In California, there is something called a third parent law. This law means that in certain situations – and when it's in the best interest of the child(ren) – more than two people can be declared to have legal rights to a child. If that sounds confusing, it is. And, that's exactly the situation we had in this case of "three's-a-crowd." Not only was there an added element of splitting parenting time three ways, but we were also required to calculate child support. This is no easy task when the court-mandated calculator software isn't built to consider a three-parent scenario. Luckily, Hello Divorce was there to help. With a few hours of advice from our legal coaching add-on to one parent's DIY Pro membership, a solution was found. Their divorce has been granted without issue, and now their kids have three Christmases each year!
Sister wives
Sisters by blood, sisters by divorce
Sisters like to do things together: shopping, vacations, gossiping. And divorce? In this case, sisters Maya and Luna did just that. Maya and Luna grew up doing everything together, and that continued into adulthood. They married their husbands the same year, and their children were very close in age. So, it was no surprise that they decided to get divorced at the same time, too. Each sister signed up for their own Hello Divorce membership, and each completed each step of the process at the same time. Both divorces were finalized within a week of each other. Now Maya and Luna live together in the same home co-mothering their children. As for their husbands, they remain good friends and are now roommates.
Sex, love, and doggie daycare
A highly specific divorce settlement
Bryson and Dakota were a super hip couple. They came to Hello Divorce with a very amicable divorce. Bryson purchased a Divorce with Benefits membership, and both were easy to work with. Everything was going without a hitch. And then it came time to prepare the divorce judgment. Both Bryson and Dakota were very independent, so before their marriage, they signed a prenuptial agreement. The term of the premarital agreement needed to be put into the divorce judgment to reflect premarital agreement terms. Let's just say the legal assistant preparing the divorce judgment was in for a big surprise.
Term #1: All sex tapes must be thrown away or permanently deleted. Specifically, Bryson wanted each tape to be listed in the divorce judgment with the date and location of the (ahem) filming.
Term #2: Pet support in the amount of $500 per month would be paid for the care of Labradoodles Daisy and Dexter. A detailed "parenting schedule" was created to ensure that neither dog would be separated from their sibling.
In the end, this couple was able to finalize their divorce judgment and are now officially divorced. We hear that Daisy and Dexter are doing well.
Related: Most Relatable Divorce Quotes
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