# What could trigger a 4-year legal battle, 10 years after an apparently amicable divorce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 18, 2023, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298 "2023-09-18T05:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/1 "2023-09-18T05:00:14Z")
I was diving down an Internet rabbit hole and found a website that had court cases that are, TBH, a little too easy to access. Yes, I found exactly this, and not only has this battle been ongoing since late 2019, 5 lawyers represent each side. About all I could decipher is that the custodial parent wanted more child support, and also have the NCP pay more for the kids’ college education than was stipulated in the original settlement. It doesn’t appear that either of them are wealthy, either (and they certainly aren’t now!). Obviously, SOMETHING went beyond sideways if they’re willing to engage in something like this! Does anyone here have any insights of their own? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/2 "2023-09-18T05:42:06Z")
CP started dating someone who revved them up about how unfairly they’re being treated by NCP. The rest follows. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/3 "2023-09-18T06:38:22Z")
One possibility is that the NCP was hiding assets which if known would have made the support more in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/4 "2023-09-18T10:11:14Z")
Someone got crazy or someone finally got their head screwed on right would be my guess. Or, potentially, someone finally came into enough money to assert their rights… or their ex came into enough money to make it worth their while to assert their rights. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/5 "2023-09-18T16:58:55Z")
My husband’s parents were involved in legal battles over their daughter six years after their divorce was finalized. It was about child support, custody, and how her mental health problems (which were caused by all this fighting) should be dealt with. My sister in law is gay, which was very much used by Dad in court, with the added joy of claiming that Mom was allowing lesbian daughter to hang out with older women. (That older woman was my best friend, offering some mentor support.) It only ended when my SIL turned 18. Naturally, SIL has issues well into adulthood. I really can’t stand parents who don’t put their children’s needs first, especially at a time like this when they are so emotionally vulnerable. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/6 "2023-09-18T17:58:09Z")
Okay, a little more background. I knew one of them personally, and in their Facebook pages, the kids are standing up straight and smiling in the dad’s (NCP) pictures - they are teenagers - and slumped over and scowling in the pictures on the mom’s (CP) page. Both have remarried, in the mom’s case to a very abusive man that I don’t think she’s been able to get rid of yet, and yes, they had a child together. The child’s surname is the mother’s maiden name, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/7 "2023-12-29T04:48:48Z")
In the meantime, I found out that a prominent local couple, who at one time owned a local company and the wife was the mayor of the town she lived in for a while, have been in divorce proceedings SINCE 2007. Not amending agreements, etc. but actively engaged in unmarrying activities. Sixteen years! Like, what’s the point after a while? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/8 "2023-12-29T05:04:14Z")
Kids stuck in their parents marital disputes make for big feelings. BIG big feelings. Kidnappings and murders have been committed over child custody and support. A few years ain’t nothing if you’re sticking it to dead beat dad. Dragging moms romantic life allover the news. They forget about the kids or somehow justify it to themselves. Just awful. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/9 "2023-12-29T05:09:54Z")
Poking around in the public records of other peoples’ divorce proceedings seems kind of unseemly. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/10 "2023-12-29T05:31:09Z")
Ahh. Judge Judy shows this crap every day. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/11 "2023-12-29T05:44:46Z")
Years ago, I met a woman who had just gotten divorced, and when she separated from her husband, several people recommended a very cut-throat woman attorney. (I was telling this story some years later at a meetup, and another person there said, and not in a good way, “Oh, I know EXACTLY who you’re talking about.”) This woman was telling my acquaintance, among other things, “You can get more child support if you tell the judge that your husband beat you up” and that’s when she fired this lawyer; IDK why they got divorced, but she very emphatically denied that any such thing had ever happened. She picked a male attorney out of the phone book, and he handled her divorce as gracefully as anyone in that situation probably could. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/12 "2023-12-29T18:13:00Z")
Yeah, it does seem like a strange hobby, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/13 "2023-12-29T18:19:17Z")
A good friend of mine had an awful situation. The divorce part was bad but not off the charts. The child support part went on for over twenty years until she finally died. Their oldest child is severely mentally disabled and needs support and custody for life. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/14 "2023-12-29T18:59:12Z")
It’s not a hobby I would cultivate but it’s no different than Granny sitting at the window waiting on the neighbors to do something interesting or watching Court Cam or Interrogation Raw on TV. Humans are nosy. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-trigger-a-4-year-legal-battle-10-years-after-an-apparently-amicable-divorce/990298/15 "2023-12-29T19:23:12Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Kids stuck in their parents marital disputes make for big feelings. BIG big feelings. > Kidnappings and murders have been committed over child custody and support. Yeah, custody battles have [a way](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Karyn_Hearn_Slover) of [getting ugly](https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/rhoden-family-murders/ohio-shooter-5-family-members-claims-he-had-no-choice/530-7c4fcd31-9a71-4cd5-94bc-b0a3111c7520).