Divorce is one of the most stressful things you could go through. Aside from the emotional toll such an event takes, divorce often comes with legal disputes. Divorcing couples routinely argue about who gets custody of the kids, how much alimony a party should cough up, and how to split up financial assets.
But sometimes couples can get into some very weird fights when they’re divorcing. And these incidents aren’t just confined to celebrity couples or eccentric millionaires.
Here are four of the most unusual divorce settlements. These couples have fought over weird things like catfish custody, song rights, and even a kidney.
1. Pinky the Catfish
A good divorce lawyer knows how to represent you when arguing for child custody, but they’ll probably be like fish out of the water if they have to argue about a catfish. In 1984, divorcing couple Peter and Jane Picknelly had a lot of property to divide. They both owned companies and were living in a spacious 14-room home.
There was also the matter of Pinky, Jane’s two-foot catfish that lived in a man-made stream on the property.
During the divorce, Peter insisted that Jane take the poor catfish with her to her one-bedroom apartment. But Jane had nowhere to put such a large fish. After two months, she managed to buy a 6-foot aquarium to house her aquatic friend. The poor fish died of a heart attack less than half a year afterwards.
2. Bob Dylan’s Hair
Being the frontman of a successful rock band has a lot of perks. Aside from the fame and the money, you apparently also get to acquire bits of other famous musicians. Dan Auerbach, frontman for the Black Keys, had one such prize among his possessions: a lock of hair belonging to Bob Dylan.
Unfortunately for Auerbach, he divorced his wife of four-years, Stephanie Gonis. Not only did the musician have to fork over $5 million to his ex-wife, but she also got a car, one of their houses, and Bob Dylan’s locks.
3. The Publishing Rights for “Baby”
Unless you’ve been hidden under a rock for the past ten years, you’ve probably at least heard of Justin Bieber’s debut song “Baby.” Despite all the intense criticism and dislike, the song undoubtedly put the Canadian performer on the path to stardom.
“Baby” was co-written by several artists, including The-Dream and Christina Milian, who were also married. When the couple divorced, Milian, a music producer, was set to take 10 percent of the song’s publishing rights with her. Deciding that she deserved a little more, Milian and The-Dream got into a huge renegotiation squabble over a song that is one of the most disliked videos on YouTube.
4. A Kidney
Dawnell and Dr. Richard Batista were happily married for years. Dawnell had severe health complications, which resulted in her getting three kidney transplants, the last being from her then-husband in 1999. The transplant saved her life after she gave birth to a son.
But when the couple divorced in 2005, Dr. Batista demanded that his wife either return his kidney or hand over $1.5 million. The divorce dragged on for years, with the doctor insisting that his ex-wife should return an organ that was keeping her alive because of alleged infidelity.
Divorce is tough, but it shouldn’t be this tough. When you find yourself struggling with a former spouse over who gets to live with an enormous fish or whether they should pluck out an organ, perhaps it’s time to either find better representation or to take a step back.
