We've all heard the advice to not throw away a good thing over some small issue at some point in our lives, but fortunately, most of us haven't heard this to keep us from ending something as serious as a marriage.
But it seems there have been some people who have ended their relationships over the most ridiculous and mundane things.
So when Redditor dankph asked about it, divorce lawyers were ready to share:
"Divorce Lawyers of Reddit, what's the most outrageous reason someone has filed for divorce?"
Going Behind Each Other's Backs
"Paralegal, here. There are so many crazy divorces and divorce will bring out the absolute worst in couples. When thinking of reasons a divorce started, this one stands out to me the most:"
"At my last firm, we did general law, which included probate. A couple did their will with our firm. We drafted everything, they were in their mid-70s to early-80s. Married 40 years total. Divorced and remarried once."
"The husband wanted us to put in his will that his kids get his entire estate, but did not want us to tell his wife."
"He wanted to have us make a secret will and a fake will. The fake will would be signed with her present, and then he wanted us to shred it and he will come in later to sign the 'real will.' He copied his wife on the email that had all of this information disclosed in it."
"Two weeks later, he called us and said he wanted to file for divorce instead."
"And a bonus one: A previous client was P**SED because his wife was cheating on him. She wanted a non-contested divorce and wanted to use my boss specifically because she knew he was a great lawyer."
"He pretended to go along with her terms and contacted us literally 2 days before his wife and retained us. He said he didn't care how much money the retainer was but wanted my boss so his wife couldn't have him as a lawyer. He called and paid first, so he won that battle."
- PetiteChaos
"My ex and I had agreed to do mediation for our divorce instead of going with lawyers. He went out and met with all the best lawyers in town before choosing the biggest shark around. Then he had me served with papers out of the blue."
"We live in a relatively small town, I had to scramble to find a decent lawyer. Since he had consulted with all the local lawyers, I was unable to retain anyone. I ended up with one that worked in a neighboring town."
"My mom had to put the retainer down for me because my ex had liquidated all our bank accounts and reported all the credit cards we shared as stolen. (I had been a stay-at-home mom for 10 years, so I wasn’t making any money at that time)."
"It was a nightmare."
- RealHausFrau
"My 90-year-old client (the husband) and his son retained me to initiate divorce proceedings with his 88-year-old wife. They’d been married 60 years."
"The wife had recently taken to beating him with his own cane because their daughter poisoned her into thinking he was hiding money from them. The battle came down to husband and son versus wife and daughter."
"At their first court appearance, my client showed up in an old 1950s-style pinstripe suit and fedora. He was a farmer his whole life, and this was clearly the only suit he owned. He was such a meek and lovely old gentleman."
"To be honest, he reminded me of Al Capone or an old school gangster in his suit, which was 100% the opposite of his soft-spoken gentle demeanor. His red-faced adult son did all the tough-talking for him - I never heard my client directly say one bad word about the woman he was divorcing."
"I had to pass my client onto a new lawyer midway through the proceedings because I accepted a job in a different country, but I understand the divorce was eventually granted."
- Horrified_Witness
"I represented a porn actress and webcam model who filed for divorce from her husband who also did the porn and webcam model business."
"He would do gay porn on the side because the pay was better. She was hesitant about it but dealt with it because the pay was decent. Both sides had an agreement that it wasn't cheating as long as it was for work."
"One day she came home early and found her husband in bed with two men... they were not filming... that was too much for her. Needless to say, the old conservative judge couldn't wrap his head around this one..."
- FearTheChive
"My Grandfather's brother was a judge who presided over state issue marriages from time to time. One couple he married returned six months later to 'confirm' the wedding and end their trial marriage."
"When he thusly informed them that there was no such thing and that they had been married for six months, they subsequently broke up."
- Aths
Mother Knows Best
"I've had a lot of younger male potential clients come in for divorce consults with their mother."
"Then, during the consult, the mother does 98% of the talking, and it's clear who actually wants the divorce. (I'll usually escort Mom to wait in the lobby while I talk to the son directly, and most of the time he's just there to appease his mother.)"
"On a related note, I once had just the mother call for a consult because she said explicitly she wanted her son to get a divorce. I politely informed her that's not how divorces worked..."
- Elle_Woods
"My parents always told each other when they were fighting that if they got divorced, the other had to keep me and my brothers."
- livingonameh
"My mom worked in abuse and neglect counseling and juvenile justice. There are a lot more cases like this than I'd care to admit."
"Parents divorce and neither side wants the kid. Some of them are that neither side wants a kid but will fight over another kid. If ends up totally screwing them over because they have to live with the fact that their parents didn't want them."
- ComfyF**ker9000
"I knew a couple who were married for only a few hours."
"The bride's side of the family was being disrespectful to the groom's side at the reception."
"He brought this up on the way to the hotel after the reception which caused a heated argument. The bride calls up her family who arrive at the hotel and start a fight with the groom in the lobby."
"The groom called his side of the family as well. The hotel lobby turned into a screaming match field and they separated there and then."
"It was such an extravagant wedding. What a waste."
- Wogachino
Splitting Hairs
"Paralegal. A couple got divorced over a cat. The wife called the cat Snowball because of her white fur and only wanted the cat to eat wet food or chicken breast."
"The husband called the cat Lily again because of its white fur and believed it should only eat dry food."
"These two argued for a year over custody of the cat but did not give a sh*t about their human kids aged 15 months, 4 years, and 6 years old."
- sxcamaro
"My aunt had a case where the wife had glued all of the outdoor hoses together so he wouldn't spend more time washing his vehicle anymore."
"When the glue didn't work, she just cut them all up. When he bought new ones, she filed for divorce."
- amazinglymorgan
"My dad was a divorce lawyer. He had a client who wanted to divorce her husband for two reasons:"
"He did not have enough hair on his chest."
"And he did not drive fast enough."
"Keep in mind, this was in the '70s when chest hair was a bit more important."
- Bodhi_ZA
"When I clerked for a judge, we had a week-long divorce trial between a couple. The husband was a wildlife photographer and the wife was a stay-at-home wife (no kids) who... helped 'remodel' the home."
"Anyway, the husband was mauled by a grizzly bear he was photographing and spent several months in the hospital and rehab. He was served papers shortly after getting out, now without an eye and with severe scarring on his face and side."
"She wanted half of everything. The non-scarred half at least."
- Mehndeke
"I knew a guy from a high school job who divorced his wife of 2 months because she would sleep with a nightlight but he could only sleep in total darkness, as they apparently never lived together until after getting married."
"He hated her nightlight so much that he would often sleep on the couch instead, but sometimes he would claim the bed for himself and lock her out of the bedroom for the night."
"This was an eccentric late 40s man working at a burger king who acted like all the other high school coworkers were his best chums, and often told us these weird stories. I'm glad I don't work with him anymore."
- yeerk_slayer
While some of these reasons were legitimately disgraceful and hurtful, some of the other reasons were so insignificant to end an entire marriage over.
This calls for a gentle reminder for couples to really get to know each other before exchanging those wedding vows.