When families are torn apart by divorce, the courtroom should be a place for fairness, dignity, and the protection of vulnerable people. Instead, for too many families, it becomes a hunting ground; where lawyers and real estate agents quietly circle like vultures, waiting for the chance to profit from another family’s pain.
Divorce as a Business Model
In most divorce proceedings, property is the largest asset on the table. Homes, land, and investments tied to real estate often represent decades of work, sacrifice, and generational wealth. But when a family is vulnerable, emotionally drained, financially strained, and without equal access to legal representation, predators will see and jump on every opportunity.
Lawyers tasked with representing “their clients’ best interests” frequently share inside knowledge about property disputes with trusted real estate agents. Those agents, in turn, scour court filings, foreclosure notices, and even newspaper announcements to identify families in crisis.
The result: distressed sales, low-ball offers, and wealth stripped away under the guise of legal process.
Hunting in the Open
Real estate agents don’t just stumble across these opportunities; they actively look for them. In some counties, agents admit to combing through public divorce filings or foreclosure notices to cold-call potential “clients.” But these aren’t clients in the traditional sense; they are prey. A family already drowning in legal bills and emotional turmoil is far more likely to accept pennies on the dollar just to make the nightmare stop.
For the agents, it’s easy money. For the lawyers, it’s leverage: the faster assets are sold, the faster a case can be “resolved.” Everyone gets paid, except the families, who lose both property and stability.
The Manufactured “Forced Sale”
Perhaps the most insidious scheme is the manufactured “forced sale.”
When lawyers and agents coordinate, families are often pushed into selling a home even when alternatives exist. Judges, sometimes influenced by the same insiders who profit from these sales, sign off on orders that claim the sale is in the “best interest of both parties.”
In reality, these sales often benefit no one but the profiteers. The family loses their home. The children lose their stability. The agents and lawyers pocket their commissions.
The saddest part, I think, is we’re seeing a similar scheme out of Detroit with Andrea Bradley-Baskin. And if it happens under the radar in probate court, it’s not at all a stretch for it to happen in other courts, too.
The Slumlord Pipeline
This cycle of exploitation doesn’t just strip wealth; it fuels entire business models.
Families’ homes, taken under duress, are bought cheap and then converted into rental stock. Over time, local communities find themselves under the thumb of slumlords; often the very lawyers, judges, and real estate professionals who once profited from dismantling families in divorce court.
It’s not rumor. It’s not speculation. It’s a pipeline: from divorce court to foreclosure notice to predatory purchase. Families lose everything while professionals laugh all the way to the bank.
And smaller communities like Allegan are already well acquainted with this practice.
Breaking the Cycle
Transparency is the first step. Families in crisis need to know that their case files are being watched not just by the opposing side but by profiteers waiting in the wings. Judicial oversight boards must confront the conflicts of interest that allow these schemes to thrive.
And communities must push for laws that prevent real estate agents from exploiting divorce and foreclosure records for personal gain.
Divorce should not be a feeding ground. Families deserve justice, not predators circling their pain.
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