I want my kidney back. Dr. Richard Batista, of Long Island, thought he could save his wife and his marriage by donating his kidney to his wife who had kidney failure. Four years after the transplant, Dr. Batista became aware that his wife allegedly was having an affair which prompted him to file for divorce. In the divorce, he requested that the Court order that Ms. Batista return the kidney or in the alternative pay him the sum of $1.5 million as compensation for the kidney.

A house divided. Literally. In the midst of a contentions New York divorce, Judge Carolyn Demarest ordered that the parties, neither of whom would agree to move out of their Brooklyn row house, to split the house with one party living on top floors and the other party living on the bottom floors. Ultimately, after a divorce trial, the Court refused to grant the divorce on the basis that they had not shown fault (at that point, New York was still a “fault state”).

Your divorce has lasted for more than two decades. Nicholas and Barbara Purpura were married in 1967 and their divorce was initiated in 1983. While the divorce was finalized in 1988, the pair battled for 21 years with the last round of litigating starting in 2003. In the meantime, four of the dozens of judges who have heard the case have died during the litigation.

Remember Beanie Babies? During Frances and Harold Mountain's marriage, they had accumulated a large collection of Beanie Babies. Unable to agree upon a division of said Beanie Babies, the Judge ordered that the Beanie Babies be brought to court and that the Judge would divide them for the parties.

The Judge was less annoyed by you then this couple. In an order for Larry and Catherine Bruni's divorce, the Judge took the opportunity to express frustration with the parties in the footnotes and notes.

Footnote 11: Catherine and Larry were married on October 7, 1995. If only the wedding guests, who tinkled their wine glasses as encouragement for the traditional bussing of the bride and groom, could see the couple now.
Footnote 20: On February 9, 2007, Catherine told Larry that she wanted him to sign adoption papers so that Sam could adopt their children. Said Larry, "She threatened me with her brothers and Hells Angels again."
Footnote 24: [After a multitude of physical threats by Catherine and Catherine’s family against Larry] As can be seen, Catherine and her relatives are one- dimensional problem solvers.
Footnote 128:…” I am unable to think of anything that Larry can do to quickly repair the damage in his relationship with Taylor (daughter); and, if I could, I have doubts that he has the skill-sets to pull it off…”
Note 4: It is likely that, in the period 2004-2006, Larry was having one or more extramarital affairs. Interestingly, Larry's father was married five times, in addition to going through several relationships. Perhaps there is an infidelity gene.
Larry gave evidence that, less than one month later, Catherine "Tried to run me over with her van." [See Note 6 below]. This is always a telltale sign that a husband and wife are drifting apart.
Note 26: The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines "dickhead" as "a stupid person". That would not have been my first guess.

Are you really married? After looking at a tax bill and not being listed as a spouse, Cristina Villa realized that she was not legally married to Gabriel Villa who she had spent over 20 years of her life and hadraised a son with. Turns out, months after the marriage, in an effort to protect assets, Mr. Villa had filed a sham divorce in the Dominican Republic without her knowledge.

Affairs can haunt you. Antonio and Rosa were married in Italy in 1934. In 2011 at the age of 99, Antonio filed for divorce after discovering that his wife had had an affair in the 40’s.

You think you want to win the lottery? Eleven days after winning a $1.3 million dollar lottery, Denise Rossi filed for divorce from her husband of 25 years, Thomas Rossi. She “forgot” that she had won the lottery. Two years after the divorce was finalized, Mr. Rossi became aware of the fact that his now ex-wife had hidden the lottery winnings in their divorce. The Court found that Ms. Rossi had acted with fraud or malice and awarded Mr. Rossi every penny of Ms. Rossi’s lottery winnings.

You could be Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch has had three long term marriages (and subsequent divorces) and holds the title of most expensive United States divorce with his settlement to his second wife being $1.7 billion.

The 86 day divorce trial. After $13 million in legal fees, 86 days of trial, and over 100 witnesses, Peter and Nancy Tauck were divorced pursuant to a 132 page Order.

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