Larry King Does It Again

Larry King is currently on his eighth marriage.  He is also headed for his eighth divorce.  Apparently, Wife No. 8 is upset and alleges that Larry is having a sexual relationship with her sister.  The Wife is seeking the couples' Beverly Hills Home, alimony, child support, and custody of their two sons.

Larry is currently 76 years old.  How do you explain things to your boys?  "Well, Aunt Becky was just really hot in that little skirt."  I wonder if a ninth woman will agree to holy matrimony with Larry King.

Smart Lawyer Gets No Sympathy from the Court

A story published by Law.com on Christmas Eve really got my attention.

So, when is it fair to revisit the terms of your divorce?  That may depend on who you are.

Yes, a final judgment or decree is supposed to be “final.”  But, in family law cases, there are occasions where it is completely appropriate and sometimes even necessary to change the terms of the final judgment or decree.

What justifies modifying a final judgment?  You obviously don’t want people going back to court every time they realize they left something out of their agreement or want something new.  At the same time, courts have to respect that circumstances do change.  This is especially true with continuing obligations such as child support, alimony, and visitation.

The law is pretty clear that you can revisit alimony, custody, time-sharing, and parental responsibility when there is a substantial change in circumstances.  Most states also require that the change is involuntary and unanticipated.

But, when is it appropriate to reconsider the equitable distribution of assets?  A high-ranking New York real estate attorney at the prestigious Paul Weiss law firm recently learned that he would receive no sympathy from the court when his circumstances changed for the worse.  

Steven Simkin had been married to his wife, Laura Blank, for more than 30 years.  They spent the better part of two years fighting over the value of certain real estate investments and Mr. Simkin’s law practice.  One item that was not subject to dispute was their account at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, which reflected a value of $5.4 million.  In the divorce, Laura Blank took $2.7 million in cash for her share of the Madoff investments.  Presumably for tax and other reasons, Mr. Simkin left most of the money in the Madoff investment fund.

As virtually everyone now knows, Bernie Madoff's investment fund was one of the largest ponzi schemes in the history of the world.  And, it turns out that Steve Simkin’s Madoff investments were completely worthless.  After learning that he paid his wife $2.7 million for her half of a worthless investment, Mr. Simkin asked a New York court to set aside the agreement.

On December 24, 2009, the New York Law Journal reported that the court denied any relief to Mr. Simkin. According to the report, Acting Supreme Court Justice Saralee Evans held that the Court simply would not revisit the parties’ settlement.  The Court reasoned that the account could have been converted to cash, so neither party was mistaken in their marital settlement agreement.  

But, what the Court apparently failed to consider was that, even if the money had been withdrawn, it still would have been subject to a “clawback suit” by the Trustee for the Madoff Estate.  The Trustee can recover withdrawals going back six years.  Nevertheless, Mr. Simkin is simply out of luck.  First, he lost $5.4 million in the Bernie Madoff fraud. Then, to add insult to injury, he unwittingly gave his wife $2.7 million for her share of the worthless Madoff investments.  Of course, there are many stories about people who were screwed by Bernie Madoff.  But, in this case, the family law judge decided that Mr. Simkin should bear 100% of the loss and his wife should keep the $2.7 million she took for her share of the sham investment. 

The Court simply had no sympathy for a man who had represented many of the world’s most sophisticated investors in their most important real estate deals.  I question whether the Court would have reached the same conclusion had the wife been left with the worthless investments. 

The only good news is that Bernie Madoff will be spending the rest of his life in prison as part of a 150-year sentence.  Unfortunately for Mr. Madoff, there are several inmates who apparently have a sense of rough justice that is even stronger than the Judge that slammed Steve Simkin.

AVVO Assigns Superb Rating to Attorney Richard J. Mockler

The website AVVO.com has assigned a Superb Rating and a numerical rating of 10.0 to Attorney Richard J. Mockler.

Avvo Lawyer Rating

Therapy Brings Happiness

Therapy Brings Happiness

A recent study suggests that a single course of therapy can bring more happiness than winning the lottery or getting a $40,000 pay raise.

Seriously?

Military Divorce Rate On the Rise

According to the Defense Manpower Data Center, the divorce rate for married service members increased by more than 38% from September 2001 to September 2009.

In 2001, the divorce rate for married service members was 2.6%.  By 2008, the military divorce rate had increased to 3.4%.  For 2009, that rate increased to 3.6%.  The rate for military women is an astonishing 7.7%, while the rate for men is 3%.

According to Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, when a married couple is faced with "eight years of war, preparing for war, being at war, coming home and having to think about going back to war again — and when you have children — it just has a tremendous impact on the family unit."

April Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the department of defense, referred to the increase over last year as "relatively small."  According to my math, the overall rate increased by 6% in a single year.  If you told me my taxes were going up by 6%, I would not consider that increase "relatively small."

Some people criticize that the actual military divorce rate is much higher due to the inaccurate manner in which the defense department counts divorces as the difference each year between the number of married service members.

This would not come as a surprise, since a recent field survey in Iraq showed that nearly 22 percent of young combat soldiers questioned said they planned to get a divorce or separation.  This is a 77% increase over  2003, when 12.4% of young combat soldiers said they planned to get a divorce or separation.

Military Divorce

Social Abandonment - He Refuses to Go to My Social Events

Thank God for no-fault divorce states.  New York actually still requires a reason justifying the divorce.  So much for mere "irreconcilable differences."

Apparently, "social abandonment" is not sufficient grounds for terminating the marriage.  When Novel Davis filed for divorce from her husband, Shepherd, she argued that the divorce should be allowed because he abandoned her - socially.    Among other things, Shepherd refused to eat meals with Novel, celebrate holidays together or attend family functions.

It's a shame, but New York law will require Novel to come up with a better reason before granting her divorce.

Jon concedes primary custody to Kate

Okay, so Jon and Kate's divorce will be finalized by the end of the year.

Jon showed up to an all-day Saturday mediation with a dozen roses as a peace-offering.  But, Kate refused to accept them.  So, I likely won't advise my clients to use this approach.  Although, I do encourage everyone to be nice, especially when you want to reach an agreement regarding your divorce rather than financing a messy and painful trial.

I thought it was interesting that Jon conceded primary custody to Kate.  I don't know the details of their time-sharing plan, but it seems that he could take a couple of kids each night.  It could be like a round-robin.  For me, I can handle my two girls nicely.  But, I don't know what I would do with eight little ones running around.

I wonder if the couple is going to follow a nesting concept, where they allow the children to stay in the house and the parents rotate in and out.  I remember a special where both parents said that the house was "for the children," not for them.  Does the same feeling still hold?

The last challenge for the couple is determining a child support number.  In Florida, the statutory chart for child support guidelines only go up to six children.  Eight is literally "off the chart."  Good luck Jon.