A current governor in the western half of the U.S. and an ex-governor in the eastern half both find themselves in the midst of dicey divorces this week. In Nevada, sitting governor Jim Gibbons filed for divorce from his wife of 22 years, Dawn Gibbons. In New Jersey, ex-governor Jim McGreevey’s bitter divorce from estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey finally made it to trial this week.

Jim and Dawn Gibbons - Nevada

Gibbons filed for divorce last Friday in Carson City, NV and asked the court today to seal the divorce file. Nevada law allows a divorce case to be sealed, making its contents private, at the request of either spouse. Only the original petition and the final judgment will be considered public record. Interestingly, Gibbons’ petition apparently seeks a court order requiring his wife to pay his attorney’s fees. The petition cited incompatibility as grounds for the divorce and asked that the couple’s community property be distributed according to state law. Nevada is a community property state, which will require that the marital property be divided equally between the spouses.

Gibbons served five terms in the U.S. Congress before being elected governor of Nevada in 2006. He reportedly moved out of the governor’s mansion a while ago and his wife has been living there. The divorce petition also seeks to have her removed from the mansion. Dawn Gibbons claims that she has no idea why her husband is divorcing her and says that he has cut off all communication with her. The couple has a 20 year old son, who is attending the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York. Under Nevada law, he is considered emancipated and, therefore, no child support or custody orders will be necessary.

Gibbons was the subject of sexual assault allegations brought by a Las Vegas cocktail waitress in 2006 while running for governor. No charges were ever filed. He was also investigated by a federal grand jury over allegedly taking bribes in exchange for assistance in the award of federal contracts while he was a Congressman. Again, no charges have been filed.

James and Dina McGreevey - New Jersey

As reported in our previous post on the McGreeveys, this one has been spectacularly bitter. Starting with the scandalous revelation that James McGreevey was gay and having an affair with a male staffer, the McGreevey divorce has been made for the headlines. The couple has seemingly done nothing to keep their story out of the papers, continuing to fight for years after they split. The biggest arguments have been over their six year old daughter Jacqueline and over the money Dina McGreevey believes she is owed for the time she lost in the governor’s mansion due to her husband’s resignation.

The case finally went to trial this week. The case has been divided into three parts for trial. The first part - custody - is closed to the public. The second and third portions - regarding alimony and Dina McGreevey’s fraud claim against the ex-governor - will be open. Reports out of New Jersey late today indicate that the couple may, in fact, finally be engaging in meaningful settlement discussions though. Tomorrow’s court session is not scheduled to begin until the afternoon so that the parties can continue their negotiations. It is unclear whether the parties are using a mediator or if they are merely negotiating between attorneys.

UPDATE:  The McGreeveys apparently settled their custody issues on Thursday afternoon, May 8.  They declined to make the details of that settlement public.  The financial issues remain unresolved and set for trial.

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal, NJ.com

While all eyes are on the prostitution scandal involving former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, ex-New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and his estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey continue to battle over every detail of their divorce case, almost three and a half years after they first separated. This past weekend, Theodore Pederson, a potential witness in the case, revealed that he was involved in regular sexual threesomes with the McGreeveys from 1999 to 2001 - both before and after their marriage in 2000. Pederson, a former campaign aide to McGreevey, casts doubts on Matos McGreevey’s claim that she was in the dark about her husband’s homosexual preference until just before he resigned as governor in August 2004. Pederson is expected to be called as a witness in the divorce trial, scheduled to begin in May. Continue reading "Gay Ex-New Jersey Governor’s Divorce Heats Up, Heading to Trial"

With all the recent talk about how much Heather Mills stands to get in her divorce from Paul McCartney, we got to wondering what the other biggest divorce settlements were. There are a lot of lists out there, but we couldn’t find one as comprehensive as the one we’ve put together here.

It’s not surprising to discover that many of the marriages on this list were fairly long term (at least for Hollywood). In general, the longer the marriage, the larger the divorce settlement or award will be - for this group, at least. In the longer marriages, there was more time to accumulate marital wealth (also known as community property). For the shorter marriages on this list, the length of the marriage might not have made a big difference because it was the timing of the marriage that resulted in a big payout. If a celebrity has a few big hits at the box office or on the radio during a short coupling, the marital assets earned during that time could be substantial. For a great example of this, check out the Linda Hamilton/James Cameron divorce discussed below.

Celebrity Divorces: the Rich and Famous

• $3.5 million: actor/comedian Jim Carrey and Melissa Womer, his first wife. Carrey and Womer were married for eight years, from 1987 to 1995. They have one child together. The couple met and married before Carrey hit it big in Hollywood. During their marriage, Carrey found comedic success and starred in the television show In Living Color and in movies Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb & Dumber.
• $6 million: actor Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen. Stallone and Nielsen were married for only two years, but those two years saw the success of Stallone’s Rocky IV and Rambo films.
• $12 million: Stallone and his first wife Sasha. Stallone was married to Sasha for 11 years, from 1974 to 1985. They have two sons. After their divorce, Stallone almost immediately married Brigitte Nielsen. It was during his marriage to Sasha that Stallone rocketed to fame and fortune with the first three Rocky movies and the first Rambo movie, First Blood.
• $15-$25 million: rock legend Mick Jagger and model Jerry Hall. Jagger and Hall met in 1977. They had two children together before marrying in 1990. They divorced in 1999 after Hall found out that Jagger fathered a child by someone else. Jagger was successful in challenging their Balinese marriage ceremony and was able to have the marriage annulled. Hall still got a substantial settlement in the neighborhood of $15 - 25 million. Jagger’s net worth at the time was reportedly about $325 million (much of this though was likely made prior to the Jagger-Hall relationship and certainly before their marriage).
• $20 million: singer Lionel Richie and his second wife, Diane Richie. Lionel met Diane when he was 36 and she was 18. They reportedly began a relationship shortly thereafter, while he was still married to his first wife Brenda (Nicole Richie’s mother). Brenda and Lionel divorced in 1993. Lionel and Diane had a child in 1994, married in 1995, then had another child in 1998. They divorced in 2004, in a very public and bitter battle.
• $20 million: television host Johnny Carson and Joanna Carson, his third wife. Johnny and Joanna were married for 11 years, 1972 to 1983, but had no children together. The couple lived and divorced in California, a community property state, where the assets accumulated during the marriage are divided equally between the divorcing spouses.
• $20 million: rock star Bruce Springsteen and Julianne Phillips. Springsteen married the relatively unknown model/actress in 1985, at the height of his commercial popularity following the Born in the USA album. They divorced in 1989. He immediately began seeing his bandmate and future second wife Patti Scialfa. This short term marriage was timed right (or wrong, if you’re Springsteen) because of the vast amounts of money brought in by Springsteen between ‘85 and ‘89.
• $25 million: actor Clint Eastwood and Maggie, his wife of 31 years. Clint and Maggie Eastwood were married from 1953 to 1984. They were married before he became a star. Over the years, Maggie endured Clint’s numerous affairs. He even had a child by another woman while married to Maggie. She went on to have two children by Clint and didn’t divorce him for another 20 years. During their marriage, Clint became a huge international movie star.

And those don’t even crack the top 15… Continue reading "The Biggest Celebrity Divorce Awards Ever"

When celebrities are getting divorced, involved in a paternity suit or are seeking a prenup they often turn to what are recognized as the biggest celebrity divorce attorneys in Los Angeles.

The majority of big divorce, paternity, and child custody cases are kept under the radar. But when a case goes public, the high powered family lawyers handling celebrity cases can get nearly as much press as their famous clients. High net worth individuals, and celebrities in particular, need an attorney who is not only an expert in the field of family law, but who is familiar with the judges in the Los Angeles Superior Court, and who can keep their divorce out of the tabloids and as low key as possible.

What follows is a list of the top celebrity divorce attorneys in Los Angeles and some of their more famous clients:

Continue reading "Top Celebrity Divorce Lawyers in Los Angeles"

The MyFamilyLaw Celebrity Divorce Blog was the first feature of the MyFamilyLaw.com website to go “live” in 2007. The purpose of the MyFamilyLaw Celebrity Divorce Blog is to use celebrity divorce and family law cases as familiar scenarios about which we can explain the underlying legal issues. The MyFamilyLaw Celebrity Divorce Blog’s purpose is not to make light of celebrity divorce, custody or other family law issues (there are plenty of print and web sources that do that). Even CNN and CourtTV frequently gloss over important facts in celebrity divorce cases.

MyFamilyLaw’s writers are actual lawyers, some of whom have had extensive experience with high net worth, high profile, and even celebrity divorces. And while we will never write about a case we are working on we can guarantee a unique perspective on the cases we’re observing in the media and in our own neighborhoods. So, read on…and feel free to tell us what you think!