Usual disclaimer, no rights to any characters etc.
Chuck and Sarah jumped as Ellie stormed in and threw a packet of documents on the coffee table in front of them, they stopped and looked at each other before Chuck reached for the packet. When they scanned the contents of the packet they understood why she was upset, as the papers were a very detailed lawsuit for the custody of Clara Woodcomb, citing endangerment as the primary cause for the case.
Both Sarah and Chuck went to Ellie to hug her and tell her that they would beat this, so she didn't need to worry, but Ellie was freaking out, these people wanted to steal her daughter. Eventually Chuck took her by the shoulders, looked her in the eye and slowly repeated that they would beat this. She shook him off and said that he couldn't guarantee that, all sorts of things could go wrong, then he smiled at her and asked her who she was talking to. That made her stop and look at him, which let him point out that the Bartowski family had the resources to fight anything, they had access to information that almost no-one else had, they had almost unlimited funds to run the campaign, and if all else failed they had a pretty important trump card, at that she just looked at him in confusion, so he pulled out his phone and brought up the contact list, selecting one and turning the phone to show her, the name of the contact was POTUS, and the picture was of the President. Ellie looked from him to Sarah asking whether he really had a direct contact to the President on his phone? Sarah nodded, pointing out that the details couldn't be discussed, but their team had done so much before and after they left the CIA that they had a standing offer from him to call him if they needed help with any issues. Chuck took Ellie by the shoulders again and re-iterated that they would beat this, and this time Ellie looked hopeful that they could.
When they went through the paperwork, it was obvious that the Woodcombs had been working on this ever since Ellie divorced Devon and got custody, over 6 years before. They'd been tracking the entire Bartowski family, Carmichael Industries and their associates to gather dirt that they could use against them for the entire time. The size of the exercise raised another question in regard to where they'd got the funds, because they were an old money family but they weren't the Hiltons or the Rockerfellers, so how could they afford this? They scanned all the paperwork into the system to work on it more effectively, and one thing that came out almost at once was that they had to have gotten records out of the agency to have any inkling of many of the points cited, so they called up the General to discuss how that happened. Chuck was ranting a little about what the Woodcombs were trying to do, and going on about how these privileged families thought they could get away with anything because they felt so entitled, but after a while he realised that everyone else had gone quiet and looked up. The others were trying to keep a straight face and/or climb under the table, except for Casey, who was smirking at him across the table, then he turned to the screen to find the General pinning him with a withering stare (it actually looked like she was trying for one of Sarah's death stares). It probably didn't help that Roan was in the room with her and he was loving every word, it was fairly obvious that Diane's family never approved of him and he lived for the chance to stick it to them, and anyone like them. At that point Chuck remembered that she was from one of those privileged families, so he apologised with a muttered "No offence General", to get a reply of "Some taken!" before she relented a little and indicated for him to continue with the relevant information.
Chuck was on a roll after that, showing the points and incidents that the Woodcombs were citing as the basis of their claim of endangerment, listing treason and murder charges and everything the other side had been throwing at the for the last decade, until he got frustrated and said that they'd even cited the time he was committed to the CIA mental institution. At that point he suddenly stopped, quietly repeating that they cited the time that he was committed as an evil grin formed over his face. The others couldn't work out why he was regarding that as something good until he looked up at the General and repeated again that they cited the records of him being committed and her eyes widened as a grim smile grew on her face. Chuck immediately started throwing document images up on screen one after the other, and the General, Sarah and Casey were making notes the whole way through. At the end Casey whistled and said that they were in a heap of trouble, with the closest thing to a full grin any of them had ever seen on his face.
Ellie looked confused, asking how it could be a good thing that they were in trouble, Casey looked contrite, realising that she misunderstood what he'd said and apologised, saying that it was the Woodcombs who were in serious trouble. Ellie still looked confused so Chuck took over, telling her (and the others who hadn't cottoned on yet) that to cite the instances that they did in the lawsuit, the Woodcombs and their lawyers had to be in possession of a lot of highly classified documents and records (at that point the General piped up to say that a significant portion of those files were actually under presidential seal, and couldn't be released except under his direct orders, so yes, the Woodcombs and anyone else who had accessed those files or documents were in serious trouble indeed).
They still had to prepare a case, but due to classified nature of the material being used against them, at least part of the legal representation on their side had to be provided by the Government, as no-one else could be cleared high enough. The CIA and NSA traced all documentation requests relating to them over the period cited (decades, as references were made to Frost and Orion, driving more nails in their coffins), and went to the President's office to get confirmation of any and all authorisations that had been given for the records under presidential seal for the period cited as well. Meanwhile Chuck and Stefan back traced all electronic accesses to the records, building an image of what had been accessed from where.
As well as addressing the national security issues and defending the accusations relating to them, they had to address the "normal" issues, and prepare a basis for counter suit, so they engaged the best legal representation possible (explaining to the partners under very strict non-disclosure agreements (the type that involved incarceration if leaked) what the separation of duties had to be if they wished to protect their firm and representatives from significant amounts of their records etc locked away), and some of the best investigators available to build an image of the Woodcomb family, and in particular Devon, Woody and Honey Woodcomb, as the principals in the suit against Ellie and the Bartowski family. As with the classified materials, Chuck and Stefan ran all the electronic investigations, where necessary pointing their investigators in the direction they had to go to get any corroborating evidence needed.
The fact that they could throw as much money as needed to put an army on the job was a significant help in collecting the information they needed inside the small time window that the Woodcombes had given them before the court date. They had comprehensive records of the goings on of Devon and the rest of the Woodcomb family, the illegal agreements between the Woodcombes and their friends and associates (including the criminal elements that they went to to buy information) to obtain the dirt to use against Ellie and her family, and the sources of the funds that they used to build the case against them. The Woodcombs were so sloppy and disreputable that the case may have been won even without the national security element against them.
When the day in court arrived (on the Woodcombs' home turf), the Woodcombs were aghast to find that the judges weren't the friend that they had arranged for, and that that "worthy" individual was answering questions in regard to impropriety and misconduct at that moment. The court was mainly filled with Woodcomb family and supporters, which worked well for the government as everyone had to be detained and questioned in regard to national security issues relating to the materials obtained to be used against Ellie. Once the court was sealed (and cellphone jammers were activated to prevent anyone raising any alarms), government agents descended on all Woodcomb and associates' properties and holdings, and the law firms that they'd engaged to represent them, to locate and secure the highly classified materials that they'd obtained to build their case, and anything else that they should not be in possession of.
Those not directly involved in the court proceedings were removed to secure facilities for questioning about their knowledge of the classified materials, while the court case proceeded. The judges allocated to the case had been given prior warning (from the President, no less) to ensure that they and their officers of the court did not access any of the classified material that was in question. The government legal representatives screened all materials and removed anything which may compromise the position of the judges or officers of the court before returning the remainder to them so that they could proceed. The remaining material represented less than 20% of those that had been submitted by the Woodcombs' legal team.
The Woodcombs had lost their smug arrogance and were looking exceedingly worried, as were their legal team. Devon looked mainly confused, which made sense to Chuck and Sara, at least, as when they'd gone though all the information they collated, it appeared that the main drivers for this had been his parents, because they were too arrogant to countenance losing to Ellie, or anyone else. If Devon had been enough of a man to stop them he may have gotten himself out of this, but he'd just caved in to them like he always had, so now he was right there in the shit with them. It was really no surprise that he hadn't had the backbone to stand up to them, as the records showed that he'd spent the past 6-7 years basically wallowing in booze, parties, cheap tarts, strippers and hookers whenever he wasn't working, hardly the lifestyle to build moral fortitude.
The government legal team ran through the points based on classified materials and provided the judges with the government statements on those points, advising that if the judges wished to go through the measures which would be required to access those materials, they (and only them) would be allowed to sight redacted documents within a secure facility to satisfy themselves of the veracity of what they were advising him here. Given the warnings that they'd received, the judges waived this requirement and accepted the formal statements from the government team. The Woodcombs' legal team tried to argue that they had to have the right to present their case on these points (as the majority of their case was based on these points), but were shut down by the judges, who stated that they would not allow themselves or their officers to be compromised in that manner.
Once the classified issues were addressed, the government team handed off to Ellie's legal team to handle the remainder of the case.
The Woodcombs' legal team presented the remaining points raised against Ellie and her family (as representative of the environment that Clara was living in) and then Ellie's legal team responded to these points in the established manner. It was expected that these additional points had been added as "filler" (relying on the issues that the government had taken off the table to drive the case) as they were all rather weak, and not at all difficult for Ellie's legal team to refute. They included general attempts to represent the nature of the work that the family was involved in as presenting a danger to Clara, but could not show any evidence that this work brought danger into the home environment at all.
Once the Woodcomb's case against Ellie, the Bartowskis and Carmichael Industries was answered, Ellie's legal team presented their counter case against the Woodcombs and their associates. The fact that Police records and civil suits among other things provided reams of evidence to paint a poor picture of the character of most of the Woodcomb family and their associates didn't help the Woodcomb case at all. Nor did the evidence of their criminal associations, to the extent of mob families loaning the Woodcombs the extensive funding to mount their case against Ellie, and the illegal activities involved in obtaining the evidence that they tried to use in the case, which involved both paying the mob to steal records, and two senators who misused their positions to falsify orders to get information about the Bartowskis. In addition to those points, evidence was presented that the Woodcombs had run themselves to the brink of bankruptcy (or beyond) to fund their vendetta against Ellie and her family, which would leave them ill equipped to raise and support a child.
In the case that came out, Devon was shown to be largely an ineffectual pawn of his parents, but it was clearly shown that the Woodcomb environment would be neither wholesome nor safe for Clara, while they had presented copious evidence and affidavits to show that the environment where Clara was living with her mother was safe.
Given the weakness of the Woodcombs' case against Ellie and the Bartowskis, and the strength of Ellie's team's countercase against the Woodcombs, the outcome of the custody hearing was no surprise, in that sole custody was given to Ellie and there was no option for the Woodcombs to appeal against this, ever.
They had also managed to spare Clara the ordeal of being present in the court (which the Woodcombs had been insisting on). Clara had stayed with Kathleen and Alex while Casey and the Bartowskis were in court to present the case and answer any issues, so she had a fun time sightseeing and shopping with Kathleen and Alex instead of being traumatised by the arguments in court. This issue was raised in court by the Woodcomb's legal team as evidence that Ellie did not meet their requirements, and backfired seriously on the Woodcombs as the Judges called for evidence to support putting a small child through that ordeal, evidence that they obviously couldn't provide.
Once the custody hearing was completed, the Woodcombs were taken into custody to answer the national security and criminal matters arrayed against them. What came out after questioning all parties was that the majority of the information was obtained via the two senators who were now incarcerated, or purchased via their mob connections, however the most sensitive files had been sent to them anonymously. The only information that they could get on the source of those files was the drop off point and a phone number that they'd had at one point, and both of those were cold leads.
Devon ended up getting a short sentence for his illegal actions in the proceedings, and a court order to stay away from Ellie and Clara for the rest of his life. His parents, however, got considerably longer sentences, especially his father, but there were serious doubts about how long Woody would survive in prison. A few other family members received short sentences, as did the corrupt judge that they'd tried to use to push the case through, but the senators were in for the long term, and so were a number of senior members of the mob family that the Woodcombs had been buying information off and engaging for other criminal activities, and this was why people doubted that Woody would last in prison, as he'd turned on his mob connections and testified against them, there was little chance that the mob would let that go unpunished.
Ellie and the family returned home as soon as the custody findings were handed down. Chuck, Sarah and Casey were kept in the loop about what was happening with the Woodcombs and their associates, but they didn't pass any of that on to Ellie (or anyone other than Mary and Carina). The primary concern that they were left with was the anonymous source of those sensitive files, as it was apparent that someone was coming after them, someone who could get highly sensitive materials without leaving any notable traces of where they'd been or how they'd accessed the information. Someone like that coming after you was reason to be concerned, and they were.
A/N: I realise that this one is a little sloppy, sorry, but I mainly just wanted to cover off the question of Devon that comes up. I didn't like him and wanted him out of my "world", but I didn't think he was evil, but rather primarily weak and self centred, a momma's boy. His parents, however, were something else, I loathed them. I also realise that I probably made some Faux Pas in regard to the US legal system, and that the question of "under presidential seal" was probably all wrong, but I hope people understood what I was trying to say.