Family Law

Sounds as if New York Giant Michael Strahan may have had a successful day in an appellate court, if the Newark Star Ledger is to be believed:

The slugfest that is Michael Strahan’s divorce case resumed today in state appellate court, where the football player found a sympathetic ear for his claim that a lower court went too far in awarding his ex-wife $14 million.

Strahan’s attorney, Angelo Genova, used the word “absurd” seven times to belittle a 2007 opinion by Superior Court Judge James Convery, who gave Jean Strahan twice what her husband’s attorneys felt she was due.

Arguing before a three-judge appellate panel in Morristown, Genova said that because the New York Giant failed to set aside 20 percent of his income per year under a pre-nuptial agreement, Convery in effect awarded his ex-wife far more than the agreement ever intended.

Based on questions the judges put to Jean Strahan’s attorney, Ellen Marshall, they appeared to be leaning toward Genova’s position.

“You want to penalize him, essentially, for not creating the 20 percent allocation,” Judge Lorraine Parker told Marshall. “You want to penalize him for that breach rather than reach a remedy that is equitable to both parties.”

Michael Strahan was not in court today, but his ex-wife wife watched from the rear of the spectator gallery.

The couple, who lived in a Montclair mansion with their twin daughters, filed for divorce in March 2005 and fought a nasty battle in a Newark family court the following year.

Convery sided with Jean Strahan in his Jan. 12, 2007, ruling, but the Superior Court Appellate Division stayed his decision two months later pending an appeal. Parker told the two sides today to not expect a quick decision because of the size of the record in the divorce case.

A Super Bowl win and an appellate reversal in the same year. Not too shabby.