Though we might not readily think of them as such, prosthetic limbs can indeed be used as weapons. After all, a weapon is anything used or intended for use in causing death or injury to persons, whether it is designed for that purpose or not. Popular culture features many characters who have weaponized prostheses.
It’s not unusual for separating couples to fight over custody, dispute marital assets, or claim alimony during or after a divorce. It’s par for the course. As family law attorneys, we know better than to underestimate the capacity of some divorcees to take their separation into a strange direction.
For some couples, “till death do us part” is a promise they can’t keep, and that parting is not such sweet sorrow after all. In fact, it can be so bitter that even the splitting up of assets is an exercise in hurting one another. Here are some bizarre cases of divorcees staking their fair share of their once-conjugal properties.
After finalizing their divorce, Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos are still two of the most insanely rich individuals in the world. That’s unsurprising, considering Jeff held 16.3% of Amazon shares — which, trust us, is a humongous amount of money — at the time of their separation.
Stepping in dog poop is embarrassing, though a simple rinse and a good laugh at oneself are sufficient remedies for the incident. However, slipping on it and hurting yourself is no laughing matter.
In fact, if you were on somebody else’s commercial property, slipped on animal pee or poop, and consequently suffered a painful sprain, bone fracture, or head injury, you have every right to sue the owner of the property, given that the latter:
Caused the surface to become slippery (i.e., the owner did not clean up after their pet);
Knew the floor was.
The Squid and The Whale is a semi-autobiographical film based on filmmaker Noah Baumbach’s experiences as a child of divorce. It’s also a good reference point for divorcing couples who may have questions about joint custody schedules, cat custody, and other pertinent divorce matters.
While we don’t have any personal stake in the romantic relationships of celebrities, seeing them play out in gossip columns and entertainment news outlets is grotesquely satisfying. Admit it: it’s a guilty pleasure to know who’s dating who, who’s single and searching, who’s married to whom, and who will soon become available after an oh-so-nasty divorce.
Celebrity worship syndrome is an actual mental disorder that afflicts many people. Some extreme cases involve stalking a celeb, which may result in restraining orders and/or arrest warrants. We’re clearly no psychiatry experts, but we’ve read about deranged behavior.
Surely, we place celebrities on pedestals. We celebrate them for their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and tal–- wait, that’s RuPaul’s line, sorry. But you get the picture. They’re on TV, the radio, the silver screen — it feels like they’re very much a part of our lives.
“A civilized divorce is a contradiction in terms.”
In an era of conscious uncouplings and gentle separations, does this line from the 1989 film The War of the Roses still hold up?
If you believe that divorce is an inherently nasty battle between ex-spouses who are reduced to fighting for their lives to claim a house, then you agree with the above quote by Gavin D’Amato (played by Danny DeVito), the film’s omniscient narrator.