My girlfriend's lawyer used a real bar number. It belonged to a 74-year-old woman... #shorts — Transcript

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1. 0:00My girlfriend demanded my bank accounts
2. 0:01after 18 months or we were done. I said,
3. 0:03"We're done." So, she faked a lawyer and
4. 0:04sued me. Sloan slid a printed form
5. 0:05across the dinner table. At the top, in
6. 0:07bold, "Joint Account Access Agreement."
7. 0:09Under that, were blanks for my bank, my
8. 0:10username, and my password. She'd
9. 0:11highlighted the signature line in
10. 0:12yellow. "18 months," she said. "Couples
11. 0:14share everything. Complete
12. 0:15transparency." I work fraud prevention
13. 0:17at a credit union. My entire job is
14. 0:18stopping people from handing their
15. 0:19passwords to someone who says they love
16. 0:20them. I'm not writing my password on a
17. 0:22piece of paper, Sloan. Her jaw
18. 0:23tightened. So, you don't trust me. This
19. 0:24from a woman who FaceTimed her cousin
20. 0:25every Sunday night behind a locked
21. 0:27bedroom door. I'd only seen his face
22. 0:28once over her shoulder. She hung up so
23. 0:29fast she dropped the phone. "18 months,"
24. 0:31she said again, tapping the yellow line
25. 0:33with one fingernail. "Fill it out or
26. 0:34we're done." She'd used that line
27. 0:35before. It always worked. I always
28. 0:36caved. "We're done," I said. She
29. 0:38actually laughed. "You don't mean that."
30. 0:39"I do." She grabbed her keys and left
31. 0:40for her cousin's. The next morning, a
32. 0:41gray pickup backed into my driveway. Two
33. 0:43hours later, her side of the closet was
34. 0:44empty. The driver never got out of the
35. 0:46truck. By Monday, she'd posted that I
36. 0:47threw her out with nothing, all because
37. 0:49she asked for basic honesty. It had 400
38. 0:50shares by lunch. Her friends flooded the
39. 0:52comments. One just said, "Lawyer up,
40. 0:53queen." She did, kind of. 10 days later,
41. 0:55a certified letter arrived from
42. 0:56Whitfield Legal Group. Grant Whitfield,
43. 0:58Esquire, demanded $24,500, her half of
44. 1:00our shared savings. We didn't have
45. 1:01shared savings. That was the entire
46. 1:03reason we broke up. The letterhead had a
47. 1:04clip art gavel. The firm's email ended
48. 1:05in gmail.com. I catch fake documents for
49. 1:07a living. This one wasn't even trying.
50. 1:09Every licensed lawyer has a bar number,
51. 1:10and his was printed right under the
52. 1:11signature. I typed it into the state bar
53. 1:12website. It was real. It belonged to
54. 1:14Ruth Abernathy, 74 years old, elder law,
55. 1:16licensed since 1979. I called her
56. 1:18office. "Does the name Grant Whitfield
57. 1:19mean anything to you?" "No, should it?"
58. 1:21"He's using your bar number to sue me."
59. 1:22Long silence. Then, very calmly, "When's
60. 1:24the hearing?" "There isn't one yet."
61. 1:25"Then make sure there is, sweetheart." I
62. 1:26could have reported him that afternoon.
63. 1:27Instead, I texted Sloan, "Not paying.
64. 1:29See you in court." She replied in
65. 1:30seconds, "Your funeral. Grant has never
66. 1:32lost a case." Technically, that was
67. 1:33true. Three weeks later, I got served.
68. 1:34That night, I ran Grant Whitfield
69. 1:36through every public record I could
70. 1:37find. What I found put me on my kitchen
71. 1:38floor for an hour. I didn't tell anyone,
72. 1:40not my friends, not even Ruth. I wanted
73. 1:41a judge to hear it first. Sloan walked
74. 1:43into the courtroom in a white blazer,
75. 1:44three friends behind her, there to watch
76. 1:46me lose. She caught my eye and mouthed,
77. 1:47"Should have signed." Then Grant walked
78. 1:48in carrying a leather briefcase, and my
79. 1:49stomach dropped anyway. I knew that
80. 1:51face. Over her shoulder, on a Sunday
81. 1:52night. The judge asked counsel to state
82. 1:53his name and bar number for the record.
83. 1:55Grant buttoned his jacket like he'd
84. 1:56rehearsed it, said his name, and recited
85. 1:57the number from memory. In the back row,
86. 1:59a tiny woman in a cardigan stood up.
87. 2:00Your Honor, I'm Ruth Abernathy. That's
88. 2:02my bar number. I've had it longer than
89. 2:03he's been alive. The courtroom went dead
90. 2:04silent. The judge looked at Grant over
91. 2:06her glasses. Sir, are you licensed to
92. 2:07practice law anywhere? Grant looked at
93. 2:09Sloan. Sloan stared at the table. Then
94. 2:10he leaned over and whispered, loud
95. 2:11enough for the whole room, "Babe, don't
96. 2:12say anything." The judge set her pen
97. 2:14down. Babe, I stood up. Your Honor, she
98. 2:15wanted complete transparency. So, here's
99. 2:17some. I handed the clerk a certified
100. 2:18copy of a marriage license. Grant
101. 2:19Whitfield and Sloan Kessler, married in
102. 2:202021. For 18 months, she told me he was
103. 2:22her cousin. He's her husband. In the
104. 2:23second row, one of her friends
105. 2:24whispered, "Wait, the cousin?" The judge
106. 2:26dismissed the case on the spot and
107. 2:27referred them both to the district
108. 2:28attorney for fraud and practicing law
109. 2:29without a license. Then she nodded at
110. 2:31the deputy. Mr. Whitfield isn't leaving
111. 2:32yet. As the cuffs clicked, Sloan turned
112. 2:34to me, mascara running, "You could have
113. 2:35just given me the login." And you could
114. 2:37have just been single.