Attorney Montgomery Blair Sibley gained some national fame several years back, when he represented the so-called D.C. Madam.

Colorful character, Mr. Sibley is. The son of a powerful developer, Harper Sibley, Jr., he filed so many lawsuits that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals once reportedly referred to his "multi-headed leviathan of meritless litigation."

Now, Mr. Sibley is involved in litigation of another, quite poignant kind. As described in a court order Monday, his father "promised to pay tuition for his grandson, Mr. Sibley’s son, to attend St. Albans School in the District of Columbia through grade 12 if his grandson were accepted into the school’s Chorister program."

Hubert Sibley, it seems, had sung in the St. Alban's choir during the 1930s, when he was but a lad. The Chorister's program is a great deal, covering 40 percent or so of the total school tuition.

Hubert Sibley reportedly paid one year's remaining tuition, amounting to about $17,000; after he passed away in 2009, though, his estate has reportedly declined to pay subsequent year's tuition. Montgomery Blair Sibley calls this a breach of contract.

Family tensions going on here. The person controlling the Sibley estate is his second wife Stuart, Montgomery Blair Sibley's step-mother. Stuart Sibley is only about 10 years older than Montgomery Blair Sibley, so there's the scenario.

Put yourself in the kid's shoes. There he is, surrounded by the truly wealthy, his enrollment in one of the nation's elite schools endangered by an intrafamily tuition struggle. It hurts to think about.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. agreed with Stuart Sibley to transfer the case to Florida.