Divorces often address a variety of financial issues. These can include looking at the husband and wife’s respective incomes during the marriage, and how much each is expected to earn after the divorce. The value of assets like homes, vehicles, businesses and even pension plans can also figure into the property division decisions in each case.
Sometimes, the husband or wife will be unhappy with those decisions even after the divorce has been finalized. One might feel that they got less than they should or were misled about the assets and income that were available for division. This is what happened in a Staten Island case, wherein the husband, 62, has filed a lawsuit against the wife, 52.
The couple was married in February 2004. On Sept. 27, 2007, the wife filed for divorce. The husband says that he was not aware of that at the time. He also says that he wasn’t aware of an amended summons that the wife filed a year later. The marriage was formally dissolved on Jan. 23, 2009, when a default divorce judgment was signed by a judge.
The husband says that the wife used trickery to get him to sign a post-nuptial agreement, which benefited her and strongly disadvantaged him. He says that he never got a comprehensive and accurate accounting of his wife’s assets. His wife is an attorney, artist, photographer and successful children’s book author. According to reports, she makes $200,000 per year, while the husband only makes $12,000.
In this case, deception is being alleged. If so, it underscores the need for both husband and wife to have a full awareness of the assets of the other. Anyone involved in a divorce case that includes property division may benefit from an attorney’s advice to make sure they understand how property and asset division are determined.
Source: SIlive.com, “In lawsuit, Staten Island man claims his ex, a prominent matrimonial lawyer, divorced him in secret” John M. Annese, Feb. 23, 2014
