{"id":34,"date":"2010-12-16T17:33:52","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T17:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.caassetprotection.com\/blog\/?p=34"},"modified":"2023-02-01T17:35:37","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T17:35:37","slug":"fighting-for-the-dodgers-a-lesson-in-pre-and-post-marital-agreements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/fighting-for-the-dodgers-a-lesson-in-pre-and-post-marital-agreements\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting for the Dodgers, A Lesson in Pre- and Post- Marital Agreements"},"content":{"rendered":"

A story you may have seen in the news these past few months is that of Frank and Jaime McCourt; their very public divorce and their battle over ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. The couple, who had been married since 1979, bought the Dodgers franchise in early 2004, and shortly thereafter signed a postnuptial agreement stating that Frank McCourt would have sole ownership over the franchise. Now, however, according to the LA Times<\/a>, Jaime McCourt claims that \u201cshe was the team’s co-owner and would never have signed away her purported stake in the Dodgers had she known the agreement took it away from her.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A postnuptial agreement<\/a> is very similar to a prenuptial agreement<\/a> in that it is a contract between a husband and wife, and includes descriptions of separate property as well as provisions for division of property in the event of divorce. As with a prenuptial agreement, a couple executing a postnuptial agreement should each have their own separate legal counsel to represent their client\u2019s interests, and each party must be aware of what they are signing and must execute the agreement voluntarily.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, according to Judge Scott Gordon, the judge who recently ruled on the McCourt case, the postnuptial agreement between Frank and Jaime McCourt was invalid because both parties seemed to have had \u201cno involvement in the drafting or execution of the (agreement) and related documents and further that they so entrusted all matters regarding the (agreement) to their lawyers, that they did not closely read or did not read at all, the drafts or final copies of the various (agreements) involved in this case.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t surprise me that the McCourts are facing so many challenges in this matter.\u00a0 Although they have become more and more common in recent years, post- and pre- nuptial agreements can be tricky and sensitive documents. The most important part of executing a pre- or post- nuptial agreement is the characterization of separate<\/strong> or community property<\/strong>.\u00a0 As a community property state, California rules that most property acquired during a marriage is owned jointly by both spouses.<\/em> Property owned separately before marriage does not usually become community property; however, if the separate property is mingled during a marriage it will often be considered to have been transmuted into community property.\u00a0\u00a0 All of this should be considered when your agreement is drafted.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, any time you transfer property from one person to another you are likely to have tax consequences.\u00a0 This may not be a particular worry during the initial signing of the pre- or post- nuptial agreement, but it is definitely something you will want to have your attorney look into regarding pre-marital transfers or should your agreement ever have to come into play.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s in store for the McCourts?<\/a> According to their lawyers the ownership dispute could take anywhere from a few months to a few years to settle.\u00a0 This is time that could have been cut in half if their agreement had been drafted to properly address the couple\u2019s financial concerns in the first place.\u00a0 For more information about pre- or post- nuptial agreements, call our office<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A story you may have seen in the news these past few months is that of Frank and Jaime McCourt; their very public divorce and their battle over ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. The couple, who had been married since 1979, bought the Dodgers franchise in early 2004, and shortly thereafter signed… Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12,47],"tags":[10,40,41,42,43,44,45,46],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asset-protection","category-news-and-current-events","category-prenuptial-agreements","tag-asset-protection-2","tag-community-property","tag-divorce","tag-frank-mccourt","tag-jaime-mccourt","tag-la-dodgers","tag-postnuptial-agreement","tag-prenuptial-agreement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t