This works
'expected_at' => 'date|after:"2016-04-09 10:48:11"',
And this works
$rules['expected_at'] = 'date|after:'.$opportunity->created_at;
This does not work
'expected_at' => 'date|after:created_at',
The "created_at" value in the database is exactly the following
2016-04-09 10:48:11
Note the form is passing the expected_at date to the validator in the following format
2016-04-09
I assume that this means you cannot directly reference a model field in a validator?