Articles Posted in Division of Assets

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Joanna Krupa has filed for divorce from husband Romain Zago is an American businessman and nightclub owner. Romain Zago owns the Mynt Lounge club in Miami Florida. There four year marriage was on the rocks. They filed in Los Angeles county after the marriage broke down.

Joanna filed legal docs claiming the marriage is “irretrievably broken.”  All marriages in California usually state that their marriage is irretrievably broken.  It must be stated in the petition in order to actually get a divorce. It’s clearly not going to be contentious … according to court records, the couple hashed out who gets what in a Marital Settlement Agreement dated today, July 10, 2017. In a marital settlement agreement all he issues of the divorce will be put into an agreement that then will be filed with the court.  The agreement will fully encompass every issue of the divorce proceeding.

Both Joanna and Romain have agreed not to seek spousal support against the other. Since it is a short term marriage spousal support will not be a big issue.  Usually anyone who might pay will pay one half of the length of marriage. Its unclear who is the spouse who earns more money. Krupa is worth 8 million dollars. And Zago has a net worth of 16 million dollars.  Therefore, zago might be on the hook to pay support for 2 years.  Since Krupa is a working model she probably doesnt need the money however, that is not the criteria for determining spousal support.

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If you are going to get a Divorce in the U.S. Virgin islands the Florida family law applies.  That is what happened to a couple who are getting divorced and attempting to divide property in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  An appeals court has remanded a divorce case involving the value of a property in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It seems Calvin Callwood was trying to divorce his wife Toleatha Callwood and filed an appeal in the 4th District Court of Appeal in a case involving after a trial court ruled that his net equitable distribution was $86,613, while his wife’s was $86,614. The trial court also said the husband and wife would each get 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale of their home, which was worth roughly $400,000. The trial court also granted the wife a property in the U.S. Virgin Islands called Estate Peterborg, according to court documents.

The husband argued that the property is worth $565,000 based on a tax assessor’s estimates. He said that it is likely the value would increase after an occupancy permit was issued. The wife said the value of the property was about $500,000 and when the property is occupied, its value could increase to $3 million to $5 million, court records state.

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Phaedra Parks and Apollo Nida‘s long, drawn-out divorce case is finally over they’ve reached a settlement that includes a parenting plan. This case has had some interesting twists and turns along the way untill a divorce settlement has been reached by the parties. Apparently along the way Phaedra was accused withholding documents that stated her income.  In a divorce if a party witholds their income through the disclosure declarations a Judge can order sanctions against that party.  If sanctioned the party can lose credibility with the judge and any judgment entered can be set aside by the other party.

The huge hang-ups were spousal support and how they’d split property. She was adamant they had an ironclad prenup but he wanted the judge to toss it out. The agreement is confidential so it’s unclear who got what. A prenuptial agreement should prevail in California Courts because they are valid contracts made in anticipation of marriage and are upheld by the Courts unless they are held to be unconscionable.

They also struck a custody agreement they’ll share joint legal custody and Phaedra will have primary physical custody. Makes sense Apollo’s serving prison time for money fraud.

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Ron White the famous comedian best known for a comedy touring group who alongside Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall became very famous back in 2003.  Ron White’s wife is filing for divorce from Ron White, and it looks like the length of their union will be a major point of contention.  Length of marriage is an an important factor in many divorces.  The reason being is that in divorces you need to divide property according to the length of the marriage.  If parties were married more than ten years in California they can seek special treatment regarding spousal support.  A life time support award can be ordered by the Court if necessary to make the parties equal based on their standard of living.

In the case of Margo Rey who filed a divorce petition last week in Los Angeles and is saying she and Ron white had been separated since May 8. Another major reason the date of separation might be an issue is that of dividing a pension or retirement account.  The time rule is an important rule that courts use to determine how much one spouse gets from the other spouse when dividing the community interest in retirements. Margo Rey got married to Ron White in October 2013 and has no children with him.

Another issue that is not commonly seen in Courts deals idea of a Common Law marriage which she states started in Texas in 2008.  That would then give her over ten years of marriage and therefore lifetime spousal support.  In Texas, a couple can be considered married in the eyes of the law if they live together as husband and wife and hold themselves out in public as a married couple. Margo says she wants Ron to pay spousal support. It’s likely she raised the common law issue so the marriage would pre-date 2013 by 5 years, thus entitling her to more spousal support.  In California there is such an allegation of a Putative spouse doctrine.  Where parties hold themselves out as married and believe they are married but for the official ceremony and certificate.  Usually this comes up with voidable marriages where parties assert they are married really despite a void marriage.

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Natalie Maines is untieing the knot with her husband. She is famous for her political dislike of George Bush and Donald Trump.  She also is famous for her remake of the song Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. She also was part of a famous band from Houston, Texas,  The Dixie Chicks. Her husband is Adrian Pasdar who is famous for being an American actor and voice artist. He is known for playing Jim Profit on the TV series Profit, for his roles in Near Dark, Carlito’s Way, Mysterious Ways and as Nathan Petrelli on Heroes.  Natalie Maines filed her petition for divorce on Friday, June 30.

Maines, 42, and Pasdar have been married for 17 years. They wed in June 2000 at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas after hitting it off at fellow Dixie Chick Emily Strayer’s 1999 nuptials to Charlie Robison. The singer was a bridesmaid, and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D actor, 52, was a groomsman.

The breakup is “a private family matter,” according local media establishments.

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A costly ‘gray divorce’ can upend your retirement plans.  The problem with divorce and a hefty retirement package is that now it needs to be divided. And if it is a long term marriage that means a long term investment with lengthy growth in the financial investment.  I means all that time and energy saving your money to only see it go out the door to a soon to be ex wife in the waning years of your life after all that work and effort.  All gone.  It seems so sad, but according to the statistics people are doing it and are doing more than every.  Age and long term marriages dont last I guess and no matter how gray you might be and how old people would rather be single and separated and poorer.

Among U.S. adults ages 50 and up, the divorce rate has roughly doubled since the 1990s.

When divorce becomes part of the financial equation, funding retirement can become more difficult for both parties.

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Mel B “Scary Spice” of the Spice Girls is getting a divorce.  She and her husband Stephen Belafonte separated last year in 2016.  Apparently she alleged that the marriage was toxic.  And from the tabloid coverage of the divorce proceedings it seems that they did have a quite volatile relationship.  Her musical career had a lot of great music and was quite harmonious, however, her personal life with Belafonte was full of dangerous issues that were anything like her music. Her bandmates had heard from her behind the scenes and told her she must free herself from the abuse she alleged to have undergone from Belafonte. Scary Spice recently suffered from the death of her father.  After his death she became introspective about her life.  Mel B apparently suffered from years of abuse.  Belafonte was allegedly abusive and controlling.  Police were called to her house on allegations of false imprisonment. meaning she was not free to leave her house in fear of violence or injury.

Mel B had previously been involved in bisexual relationships and had been planning the divorce for two years. She had attempted to split from Belafonte several times.  She would succeed in breaking up temporarily and then would somehow feel lured back into the relationship.  However, finally she decided to file for divorce in Los Angeles citing irreconcilable differences.  She shares a child with Belafonte named Madison Brown Belafonte.

Belafonte had admitted to battering his prior girlfriend Nicole Contreras. Mel B continued to make positive statements about Belafonte while she was filing for divorce which created confusion about her true intentions. In addition, she had a interesting past because had a fling with Eddie Murphy which produced her first child.

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In Gutierrez v Gutierrez a Mississippi Supreme Court Case the supreme Court of Mississippi evaluated and ruled upon a very complicated spousal support and property debt and asset division family law case. The first major issue the trial court had to undertake was 2nd mortgage that was taken out soley during the marriage under Clayton Frank Gutierrez’s name.  The trial court laid out three questions it determined. Clay was the sole person who signed for the 2nd mortgage.  Trisha Guterriez did not sign for the 2nd mortgage.  In addtion the trial court ruled that the creditor did not make a claim for the enforcement of the 2nd mortgage.  The chancellor in Mississippi which would be the trial Court in California made each party responsible for the equal payment of the debt thus each spouse would assume joint responsibility for the 2nd mortgage.

Each party on appeal to the Mississippi Supreme court made a different argument based on the 2nd mortgage.  Mr. Gutierrez claimed that since he was soley liable for the note and signed for the 2nd mortgage he should be soley paying for the mortgage and not Mrs. Gutierrez. Mrs. Gutierrez appealed claiming she wanted a lump sum spousal support payment rather than monthly payments.  Each of their argument strongly relied on the outcome of how the debt and payments on the 2nd mortgage would be handled by the Mississippi Supreme court.

Mrs Gutierrez wanted that the 2nd mortgage remained community debt and jointly responsible to the both parties. If so she would gain much more ability to claim more spousal support.  Mr. Gutierrez wanted to claim it as his sole responsibility because then he would have more community debt to claim and thus less income to provide more spousal support to Mrs. Gutierrez.

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Janet Jackson is going through a child custody battle and a divorce battle with Wissam Al Mana who is from Qatar and is a Billionaire who invests internationally in all sorts of things.  Recently they were seen in the Royal Courts in London after a court hearing on Custody.  It would seem she is involved in a hotly contested international child custody dispute. The couple had split in April after Janet had given birth to their daughter in January, Elissa.

In the Divorce proceedings word has gotten out that Janet will receive a sizable settlement payment from Al Mana around $200,000.  And she will remain in London to raise the child.  Janet is worth $150,000 so already has a lot of money and now will seek to increase her already wealthy amount of money.  This turn out to be an interstate child custody dispute and also an international divorce.  However, it appears the couple have settled on the London Courts to serve as the jurisdiction to hear the Divorce and custody matters.  The child Elissa was born in London so England would be her home country.  However, since Janet is also a US citizen she could also one day decide to head back to the US to live.  Likewise Al Mana is from Qatar and could also want at some time to take his child to visit or live in Qatar.  But for right now it seems that the parents have somewhat resided to the fact that London will be Elissa’s home.

Janet is talks to be part of a netflix 10 part documentaries about her life after her divorce from Al Mana.  This could net her a significant some of money which might effect the settlement of the divorce.  In California the courts look to the standard of living for the spouses post separation.  So the London Courts will probably do the same.

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Actor Kevin Dillon of the famed series entourage has settled his divorce finally.  The funny think is that noon new he was getting divorced, that is how under the radar his divorce was. His now ex wife was Jane stuart who filed for divorce last July.  The couple was married for over 10 years.  The key battle that the couple had was over the date of separation of the divorce.  This can be a very hot item issue of a divorce as it nears the 10 year number of the length of the marriage.  The key benefit of the 10 year time rule is that the other party after 10 years can get lifetime spousal support from the other party. Jan stuart claimed that the couple separated May 29, 2016 which would have made the marriage ten years.  Kevin Dillon claimed the couple had separated in October of 2008.  Apparently the major squabble of the couple was over the residual payments the actor was to receive from his entourage show.

As with most of these cases … it settled before going to trial. Last month Kevin agreed to pay Jane $3,174 a month in child support for their 11-year-old daughter, and she gets $7,214 in monthly spousal support. Dillon is best known for playing a character on Entourage called Johnny Drama.

Kevin Dillon’s net worth is approximated to be $10 million dollars.  He earned most of his money from his role on entourage where he earned $16 million dollars.  That is why the date of separation was so important since they married in 2004 she would get a portion of his royalties from his show.  He was seen getting cozy with a blond lady last may which would imply that his wife might be correct in her assertion of the date of separation to be in May of last year.  Stuart claimed that Kevin Dillon under reported his income.  Therefore, this issue probably undermined the divorce process and she and her attorneys needed to do further discovery on Dillon to get an accurate assessment of his true income.

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