Family Law

California Bill Prevents Spouses who Hire Hit Men from Collecting

By ckramer

A story that sounds like it was taken from a mobster movie has led to a change in California divorce law, as a man sought to prevent his wife from benefiting financially from their divorce.

Why did he want to prevent her from getting money in the divorce, beyond the usual reasons? Well, for starters, she had tried to hire a hit man to have him killed, according to an article from the Associated Press.

A new bill that will be heard in California state congress will see to close a loophole that the authors claim exists in the state?s no-fault divorce code. In particular, it has to do with spouses who attempt to have their husbands done away with. The bill would specifically prevent spouses who solicit murder from collecting financial rewards in divorce cases.

John Pomroy, the husband in the divorce case and a police detective, has spurred the bill onward. His ex-wife tried to hire a member of a biker gang to kill her husband, after she lost custody of the couple?s children in their divorce. She went to prison for her crimes, and when she got out, in 2004, she was able to collect almost $70,000 from their estate in the divorce.

As the law stands now, spouses who are convicted of murder or attempted murder of their husband or wife are not entitled to collect from the couple?s estate during a divorce. The loophole that?s there currently does not include spouses who hire somebody else to do the dirty work on their behalf. In the bill, a victim?s assets are protected in the event that a spouse tries to line up a hit man.

?If you [pay someone to] commit arson on our house, you don?t get the insurance money,? said Pomroy, in defense of the bill. ?You go to prison and all sorts of things happen to you. But if you try to [hire someone] kill someone that is your spouse, the current law allows you to collect something.?

Krystal Callaway Jaime is a supervising attorney for the Family Protection Clinic at the University of California, Davis. Jaime supports the closing of the loophole in California state law. ?This bill is very, very necessary,? said Jaime. ?It seems obscure, but this does happen more frequently than people realize.?

There are widely varying divorce laws from one state to the next, and in California typically estates are distributed equally to both parties in a divorce case.

In Pomroy?s case, his wife pled guilty to soliciting others to murder him, and she spent around a year in prison. She had been faced with losing their children and the support of her husband?s salary, so she asked members of the Vagos biker gang?who lived down the street?to kill her husband while he was on duty.

Pomroy?s wife?s legal representation, Michael O?Brien, claimed that she didn?t plan to carry out the murder, but that instead she was out of money, addicted to drugs and desperate at the time that she made the attempt to hire a hit man.

Pomroy, for his part, remained unimpressed by his wife?s crime.

?I?m just trying to prevent some poor sap in the future who goes through this, to prevent him from losing his assets to somebody that?s trying to kill him,? said Pomroy.

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).