Pre-nup Contested on Claim Spouse is Rich

As reported by tmz, George Lazenby, who once played James Bond in 1969, is challenging his prenuptial agreement on grounds that his estranged wife and Baltimore native Pamela Shriver has a much bigger house and is so rich it makes him feel bad, and that his kids don't take him seriously. Pamela Shriver is a former tennis professional with 22 Grand Slam doubles titles and a 1988 Olympic gold medal. Lazenby is asking a judge to void the prenup and award him $16,133 in monthly support.

He says his wife is "30 times a millionaire" and he has only a million. Boo hoo. Is Lazenby essentially asking the court to void a prenup because it hurts his pride that his wife is so much richer than he? Not a very convincing argument. We say that if the pre-nup is valid, it's too late to change his mind now.

In Utah, courts do in fact honor pre-nuptial agreements, but only if they meet strict criteria. Pre-nuptial agreements are clearly the type of document you want a competent attorney to draft. At Hughes Estate Group we draft pre-nup agreements. We recently had one of our agreements challenged and upheld in litigation. We can help you do these agreements right.

Playmate's Fun Ends when Pre-nup Upheld by Utah Appellate Court

The Utah Court of Appeals has ruled that a former Playboy Playmate, Hope Marie Carlton, must pay for her multimillionaire ex-husband's legal fees, after the judges determined she is not entitled to share in his fortune, due to a prenuptial agreement.

When the couple married, Robert Keith Levin was a multimillionaire and Carlton a 25-year-old aspiring actress and former 1985 Playboy Playmate of the Month who earned about $40K a year.

The ruling states that Carlton is not entitled to co-ownership of a luxury resort or $1.5 million in profits from land development in San Juan County. Prior to their California marriage in 1991, Carlton and Levin entered into a prenuptial agreement that protected Levin's assets from being divided in the event of a divorce.

The ruling states that at the time of the marriage Carlton was a 25-year-old aspiring actress who had sporadic parts in movies and TV shows and was making as much as $44,000 in one year. Meanwhile Levin, who was 42 and semi-retired at the time of their marriage, was a multimillionaire.

After their marriage, the couple moved to Park City "where they lived a luxurious leisure lifestyle," according to the ruling. In 1994, the couple developed the Sorrel River Ranch Resort along the Colorado River just north of Moab.

In addition to ruling against her, the Utah Court of Appeals also ordered Carlton to pay her ex-husband's legal fees of around $167,885. The ruling states the money owed will be deducted from her $15,000-a-month alimony at the rate of $2,500 a month until fully paid.

Story at the Deseret News

She Gets to Keep It

Prenuptial agreements have not been recognized in English courts for more than 150 years - throughout the modern era in which divorce settlements have been a matter for civil law.
The refusal of the courts to recognize prenups has been based on the principle that couples have a duty to stay together and marriage is for life.
However, yesterday the Appeal Court declared the traditional thinking 'unrealistic' and out-of-date.

The Court established a change in the law. The judgment said that a large part of the Court's reasoning is that a person who is already divorced should have the chance to marry again, without jeopardizing his or her separate wealth and for the sake of children born of the first marriage.

The ruling recognizing the validity of the pre-nup agreement saves a German heiress named Katrin Radmacher from losing 5 million pounds to her ex-husband.


More at the Times Online