Articles Posted in Divorce / Dissolution of Marriage

Twenty years after her divorce – and 18 years after her ex-husband’s death – a Canadian woman has received a legal settlement for over $250,000 in a lawsuit stemming from her original divorce.

When Julie Ladner was divorced from Vancouver attorney Hugh Ladner in 1990, her ex-husband was ordered by the court to maintain a $400,000 life insurance policy to cover court-ordered spousal support of $2,340 per month for her lifetime. However, Hugh Ladner never obtained the insurance policy, and when he died from drowning in 1992, she was left without alimony.

Julie Ladner later sued her ex-husband’s estate for breach of contract, but was unable to recover the full amount because the estate was insolvent by the time she filed suit. She eventually received a $165,000 settlement from the estate.

In a unanimous decision, the Florida Supreme Court overturned two lower court decisions and ruled that passive appreciation – the increase in a home’s value caused by inflation and market forces – is a marital asset in Florida, and is entitled to be shared by a divorced spouse who contributed to the mortgage or upkeep on the home during the marriage.

The case involved a Hillsborough County couple, Joseph and Katherine Kaaa, who divorced in 2007. In their divorce case, a judge denied Katherine an award for passive appreciation on a home she and her husband shared in Riverview. Her husband had purchased the home prior to their marriage for $36,000. During the marriage, Katherine had contributed to the mortgage payments and enhancements to the home, which was worth $225,000 at the time of their divorce.

The judge granted Katherine over $18,000 for her share of the enhancements to the home, but refused to award her passive appreciation. The Second District Court of Appeals in Lakeland upheld that judge’s decision.

Sociologists now believe that there has been a change in the associated link between living together and divorce, saying that while it used to be that living together before marriage increased the risk of divorce, this is apparently no longer the case.

According to Pamela Smock, a sociologist at the University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center, the previously strong link between “living in sin” and divorce has weakened over the past four decades. Part of the reason is the change in demographics of those who choose to live together before marriage. Thirty years ago, those who decided to live together were decidedly more nontraditional in their beliefs – a group that carries a higher risk for divorce. Today, over 65 percent of marriages are between couples that have lived together prior to getting married, and what was once uncommon is now a common experience.

In addition, the reason couples decide to move in together has changed. In the 1970s, couples were more motivated by “free love”. Today, couples are deciding to move in together more for economic necessity – especially as unemployment remains high. This, conversely, leads to fewer marriages, not more. Studies have shown that couples who move in together to save money often end up not getting married. Which means, of course, fewer divorces.

A Time article has pointed out yet another downside to the high profile divorce: becoming blog fodder. Take the example of Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt, who have been slugging it out in divorce court for almost a year. There is now a blog devoted entirely to their divorce.

Dubbed Dodger Divorce, the blog is written by Josh Fisher, a third year law student at the University of Minnesota who is also, not surprisingly, a Dodgers fan. However, what makes this blog different is that it does not spend so much time on celebrity-type salacious gossip but rather on the finer points concerning the intersection of matrimonial and business law.

This is because at the center of the McCourt’s divorce battle is the hotly contested ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A post marital agreement between the couple had their personal assets – mostly their homes – in Jamie’s name and the business assets in Frank’s name. They had been in the process of revising that agreement to make the Dodgers jointly owned between the couple when things got rocky. A revised marital agreement with the shared ownership stipulation was drawn up but never signed by Frank.

On Monday, June 25, the divorce of Sandra Bullock and Jesse James was finalized, confirms an Austin, Texas court clerk. The split was also confirmed by Bullock’s publicist. Bullock filed for divorce around the end of April 2010 after hearing reports of James’ infidelity. Details of the settlement were not revealed, however, Bullock’s initial filing cited “discord or conflict of personalities” as grounds for the divorce. It was only ten days after Bullock won an Academy Award that reports surfaced about James’ unfaithfulness; James was alleged to have had an affair while Bullock was filming her Oscar-winning film, The Blind Side.

After the reports of infidelity, Bullock canceled overseas appearances to promote The Blind Side and moved out the marital home she shared with James. James went into rehab, but did not state why he needed treatment. In the same month Bullock filed for divorce, she dropped another bombshell – Bullock had adopted a baby boy who she intended to raise as a single mother. To read more about this topic see Sandra Bullock and Jesse James’ divorce finalized.

Divorces can be complicated and extremely emotional matters that drastically affect the lives of both spouses. Many legal issues present themselves when martial lives are disturbed: If the couple was planning on adopting a child before the divorce, what happens to the adoption proceedings? Who will get the marital home? How will the couple’s assets and liabilities be divided? Does infidelity by one spouse matter to courts? If you reside within the state of Florida, contact a Florida Divorce Attorney to counsel you on these issues as well as others.

NASCAR Chairman Brian France is asking a Charlotte, NC state appeals court judge to seal the records in his ongoing divorce proceedings, according to a Charlotte Observer report.

France divorced his wife Megan for the second time in 2008, but the couple continues to battle in court over the terms of their agreement. Megan France has said that her ex-husband has not made the agreed-to settlement payments and is behind in his alimony payments. She has also accused him of harassment and of violating their original agreement regarding the care of their two children.

Brian France’s attorneys have petitioned the court to keep the records of the divorce proceedings closed to the public. He is currently chairman of NASCAR, a role he assumed from his late father Bill in 2003. His grandfather founded the motorsports empire in Daytona Beach, Florida, where NASCAR is based.

The National Center for Marriage and Family Research has released reports on marriage and divorce, based on the latest Census Bureau American Community Survey. And, for the first time ever, individuals aged 25-34 who have never married now outnumber those who have married.

The research on first divorces in the U.S. in 2008 found:

• About half of all U.S. marriages end in divorce – a statistic that has been relatively stable for the past 20 years.

Time Magazine has taken a look at some celebrities, historical figures and just plain folks who became known for multiple marriages and, therefore, multiple divorces. Here is the Time list of the Top 10:

Elizabeth Taylor – The death of Taylor’s fourth husband, Eddie Fisher, happened in September, which caused many publications to review her long record of marriages and divorces. Taylor had eight marriages, eight divorces and seven husbands – she wed and divorced Richard Burton twice.

Mickey Rooney – Rooney also hit the eight-marriage mark, but has been married to his last wife for the past 32 years, so just seven divorces for the octogenarian actor.

A new study from the University of Michigan has found that spouses who withdraw from conflict create a damaging effect on the longevity of a marriage, thereby increasing the risk for divorce.

The Early Years of Marriage Project is an ongoing study of 373 married couples interviewed four times a year from 1986 until 2002, beginning during the first year of marriage. At the end of the study, 46 percent of the couples had divorced.

Researchers found that whether or not couples reported conflict during the first year of marriage had no affect on if they remained married by year 16. However, they did find that those couples that used constructive strategies to deal with conflict had lower divorce rates.

A story at CNN Living reveals that this generation of marrieds may bring back the days of low divorce rates and marrying for life, having learned from their divorced parents that staying married takes dedication, patience and, yes, just plain work.

This unromanticized view of marriage may be what the most divorced generation has wrought, say relationship experts. They report that many children of divorce tend to approach relationships cautiously and do their homework on what makes a successful relationship before taking that trip down the aisle.

According to divorce statistics, the risk of divorce is 50 percent higher if one spouse has divorced parents and 200 percent higher if both spouses come from divorced parents. And children of divorce are also 50 percent more likely to marry another child of divorce.