Assuming they invested in stocks, the couple got to enjoy more than a decade of compounding growth. They even set up their 7-year-old son for college with a 529 savings plan.

They claimed the couple was overwhelmed caring for eight children during the COVID-19 pandemic and said the 10-year-old had behavioral challenges, including an alleged obsession with food.

After the couple closed on the former schoolhouse, the real work began. By the fall of 2021, the couple got the school down to its bare bones, but a renovation they thought would take two years ...