Family Law

LA Dodgers Owners Strike Out in Divorce Court

By ckramer

There may be no crying in baseball, but there are plenty of fights that occur both on and off the field.

Take the owners of the LA Dodgers, Frank and Jamie McCourt. The couple filed for divorce in October 2009 and they continue to battle out their complicated issues in the courts.

After 30 years of marriage, Jamie McCourt filed for divorce from her husband in which she cited irreconcilable differences. Since then the power couple has fought over ownership of the Dodgers and other assets.

According to an article in the LA Times, Frank McCourt fired his wife after the Dodgers lost the 2009 playoffs against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jamie was CEO at the time and Frank fired her due to poor performance.

Jamie McCourt said that she and her husband agreed she would remain CEO until the end of the season. In turn she agreed wait to and file the divorce after the season was over.

But things went sour fast.

Frank McCourt claimed that his wife had cheated on him with their personal driver and whisked him away on a vacation at the Dodger?s expense. Now the couple?s main dispute is over spousal support, an issue that appears to be getting harder and harder to settle.

In the initial divorce papers, Jamie McCourt requested temporary spousal support in the amount of $488,000 per month. But she recently increased the amount for alimony to $988,845 per month. Jamie said that her estranged husband lied about his finances to the divorce court and that he had a lot more money than he claimed.

Jamie and her divorce attorney, Dennis Wasser, alleged that Frank used ?blatant sheet manipulations? in his 2009 financial statement that he provided to the divorce courts in June.

The financial statement estimated his net work at $163 million. But in a financial statement written nine months earlier, his net worth was valued at $835 million.

Wasser said that “what has occurred here is some extensive planning for divorce court in terms of attempting to diminish on paper the value of the Dodgers.”

Both Jamie and her attorney feel as though she should receive a larger amount for spousal alimony to continue the way of life she has become so accustomed too.

But they also believe that Frank will have enough to money to continue his lifestyle as well. The judge will decide if Jamie deserves more alimony at the hearing on March 29th.

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on February 26, 2010 (boomark / email).