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"That 70s Show" star Lisa Robin Kelly officially has firsthand experience with the unholy trifecta of failed marriages: 1) a restraining order, 2) criminal charges, and 3) DIVORCE.
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Get Alerts2013년 7월 6일 토요일
2013년 6월 23일 일요일
Rupert Murdoch's aim: A divorce with little fodder for tabloids
By Karen Freifeld
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch appears to be seeking a quiet divorce, based on the lawyer he has chosen and the absence of incendiary allegations, people with knowledge of the case and experience of high-profile New York divorces said.
Divorce papers filed by the media mogul on Thursday comprised a short document saying the marriage is irretrievably broken, according to a person with knowledge of the filing.
The document, which formally starts a divorce action under New York's no-fault law, contains no details of wrongdoing, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That, his choice of lawyer and a series of pre- and post-nuptial agreements all favor a strategy for ending his 14-year marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch as quickly and quietly as possible, the experts said.
"While she might try to get more money somehow, and he might be willing to give it to her because he's got so much money, it seems to me she's bound by all those agreements," said John Vassallo, who has represented rock star Mick Jagger and movie star Harvey Keitel in divorce proceedings.
Ira Garr, representing Rupert Murdoch, was referred to the case through a lawyer at News Corp, the Murdoch media empire, the person with knowledge of the divorce filing said. He may have been hired because of a reputation for settling divorces quietly and because he is friendly with Pamela Sloan, the lawyer representing Wendi Deng, the person said.
Among his previous divorce clients were businessman Donald Trump's former wife Ivana Trump and federal judge Kimba Wood.
Sloan's firm, Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, helped represent actress Katie Holmes in her divorce from actor Tom Cruise. She is also known for achieving high-profile divorces with a minimum of public fuss, according to other New York divorce lawyers.
"Pam is not somebody to call up the New York Post," Vassallo said in reference to the Murdoch-owned tabloid known for its gossip column and screaming headlines.
PRE-NUP, POST-NUP
While New York law almost guarantees a court will grant a divorce, the couple could still fight about finances, who gets their New York apartment and over their two children, Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9, including custody and child support.
Deng has yet to make any kind of public response to her husband's filing. Steven Rubenstein, a spokesman for Murdoch, declined to comment on whether the split could be resolved amicably.
Financial matters are likely to be governed by the agreements the couple signed. "New York is very favorable toward enforcing pre-nups," said William Zabel, an expert on such agreements.
In the Murdochs' case, they signed a pre-nuptial agreement in 1999, in which Sloan represented Wendi Murdoch, and they signed two post-nuptial agreements in 2002 and 2004, the person with knowledge of the case said.
Some divorce lawyers said that if the couple have not agreed on a proposed settlement, there is always the prospect of a public battle, if not one in the courtroom.
There is the possibility that "one wants something the other doesn't want to give," said Miami lawyer Jason Marks, who has represented celebrity clients including baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
The two girls have stakes in the family trust that holds the Murdochs' share of News Corp, but they do not have voting rights, unlike Rupert Murdoch's four grown children from his first two marriages.
The family trust owned 38.4 percent of the voting stock in News Corp as of April 30. Rupert Murdoch owns an additional 1 percent in voting shares. A source familiar with the matter said that Deng does not own News Corp stock on her own or have any voting rights.
In New York, claiming irretrievable breakdown for more than six months is an easy path to an uncontested divorce. Until the law was changed in October 2010, the state only allowed divorce by claiming fault against the other spouse, such as cruel and inhuman treatment, adultery or abandonment.
If the case proceeds without a settlement, it will be assigned at random to one of the matrimonial judges in New York state court in Manhattan. A preliminary conference will be scheduled several weeks after the judge is assigned.
If the case is not resolved before then, the Murdochs will be required to appear in court with their lawyers.
Daniel Jaffe, who represented Rupert Murdoch's second wife, Anna, when they split up after more than 30 years of marriage, said he hoped the divorce would be done "as amicably as the last divorce and settlement was done."
Jaffe said that despite the absence of a pre-nuptial agreement, the whole thing was done in less than a year.
"We finished that divorce in 10 to 11 months," said Jaffe, who is based in Beverly Hills, California. "We had no court appearances. Everything was disclosed amicably."
(Reporting By Karen Freifeld; Editing by Eddie Evans, Martin Howell and Peter Cooney)
2013년 6월 21일 금요일
Rupert Murdoch's aim: A divorce with little fodder for tabloids
By Karen Freifeld
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch appears to be seeking a quiet divorce, based on the lawyer he has chosen and the absence of incendiary allegations, people with knowledge of the case and experience of high-profile New York divorces said.
Divorce papers filed by the media mogul on Thursday comprised a short document saying the marriage is irretrievably broken, according to a person with knowledge of the filing.
The document, which formally starts a divorce action under New York's no-fault law, contains no details of wrongdoing, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That, his choice of lawyer and a series of pre- and post-nuptial agreements all favor a strategy for ending his 14-year marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch as quickly and quietly as possible, the experts said.
"While she might try to get more money somehow, and he might be willing to give it to her because he's got so much money, it seems to me she's bound by all those agreements," said John Vassallo, who has represented rock star Mick Jagger and movie star Harvey Keitel in divorce proceedings.
Ira Garr, representing Rupert Murdoch, was referred to the case through a lawyer at News Corp, the Murdoch media empire, the person with knowledge of the divorce filing said. He may have been hired because of a reputation for settling divorces quietly and because he is friendly with Pamela Sloan, the lawyer representing Wendi Deng, the person said.
Among his previous divorce clients were businessman Donald Trump's former wife Ivana Trump and federal judge Kimba Wood.
Sloan's firm, Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, helped represent actress Katie Holmes in her divorce from actor Tom Cruise. She is also known for achieving high-profile divorces with a minimum of public fuss, according to other New York divorce lawyers.
"Pam is not somebody to call up the New York Post," Vassallo said in reference to the Murdoch-owned tabloid known for its gossip column and screaming headlines.
PRE-NUP, POST-NUP
While New York law almost guarantees a court will grant a divorce, the couple could still fight about finances, who gets their New York apartment and over their two children, Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9, including custody and child support.
Deng has yet to make any kind of public response to her husband's filing. Steven Rubenstein, a spokesman for Murdoch, declined to comment on whether the split could be resolved amicably.
Financial matters are likely to be governed by the agreements the couple signed. "New York is very favorable toward enforcing pre-nups," said William Zabel, an expert on such agreements.
In the Murdochs' case, they signed a pre-nuptial agreement in 1999, in which Sloan represented Wendi Murdoch, and they signed two post-nuptial agreements in 2002 and 2004, the person with knowledge of the case said.
Some divorce lawyers said that if the couple have not agreed on a proposed settlement, there is always the prospect of a public battle, if not one in the courtroom.
There is the possibility that "one wants something the other doesn't want to give," said Miami lawyer Jason Marks, who has represented celebrity clients including baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
The two girls have stakes in the family trust that holds the Murdochs' share of News Corp, but they do not have voting rights, unlike Rupert Murdoch's four grown children from his first two marriages.
The family trust owned 38.4 percent of the voting stock in News Corp as of April 30. Rupert Murdoch owns an additional 1 percent in voting shares. A source familiar with the matter said that Deng does not own News Corp stock on her own or have any voting rights.
In New York, claiming irretrievable breakdown for more than six months is an easy path to an uncontested divorce. Until the law was changed in October 2010, the state only allowed divorce by claiming fault against the other spouse, such as cruel and inhuman treatment, adultery or abandonment.
If the case proceeds without a settlement, it will be assigned at random to one of the matrimonial judges in New York state court in Manhattan. A preliminary conference will be scheduled several weeks after the judge is assigned.
If the case is not resolved before then, the Murdochs will be required to appear in court with their lawyers.
Daniel Jaffe, who represented Rupert Murdoch's second wife, Anna, when they split up after more than 30 years of marriage, said he hoped the divorce would be done "as amicably as the last divorce and settlement was done."
Jaffe said that despite the absence of a pre-nuptial agreement, the whole thing was done in less than a year.
"We finished that divorce in 10 to 11 months," said Jaffe, who is based in Beverly Hills, California. "We had no court appearances. Everything was disclosed amicably."
(Reporting By Karen Freifeld; Editing by Eddie Evans, Martin Howell and Peter Cooney)
2013년 6월 16일 일요일
News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch files for divorce from wife Wendi
By Liana B. Baker
(Reuters) - News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife Wendi, the company confirmed on Thursday, just days before News Corp. itself splits into two.
The reasons for the filing were not immediately clear, though a spokesman for Murdoch said the marriage had been irretrievably broken for more than six months. Murdoch, 82, married the former Wendi Deng, 44, in 1999.
The filing comes just days before the split of News Corp. into two companies, one for its entertainment assets and the other for its publishing business. Murdoch, who Forbes says is worth $9.4 billion, is to be chairman of both companies.
Analysts said the end of the Murdochs' marriage was unlikely to have an effect on the corporate split.
"I doubt it has a substantial impact on the spin," Gabelli & Co. analyst Brett Harriss said, referring to the News Corp. separation. "Given that it's his third wife, I see it unlikely that he didn't plan for this contingency."
A person familiar with the situation said Murdoch and Deng had a prenuptial agreement, though it was not clear which one would move out of the couple's Upper East Side apartment in New York City.
Murdoch and Deng have two young daughters, Grace and Chloe. Murdoch has four grown children, Prudence from his first marriage and Lachlan, James and Elisabeth from his second. News Corp. shares were unchanged in midday trading.
Ira Garr, an attorney listed as representing Murdoch, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A few years ago, several news reports said that Deng had battled Murdoch's adult children to secure a voting position for her children in the family trust, which holds the Murdoch stake in News Corp., worth billions of dollars.
As it now stands, the two youngest girls do not have voting rights in the trust, though they do have an ownership stake.
INTERPRETER TO STAR
Wendi Deng, the daughter of a factory director in Guangzhou, China, came to the United States in 1988 after serving as an interpreter for a Los Angeles couple working in China.
She went on to get an MBA from Yale and landed a job at News Corp.'s Star TV as an intern in 1996. She met Murdoch in 1998 when she was a junior executive who acted as his interpreter during a business trip to China.
The pair married in 1999 after Murdoch divorced his wife of 31 years.
To many people outside the media industry, Deng is best known for a July 2011 incident in the British Parliament, where Rupert Murdoch was testifying about a phone-hacking scandal.
More than halfway through the hearing, Deng suddenly leapt from her seat to protect Murdoch from a prankster who had slipped through a packed committee room and tried in vain to smash a shaving cream pie into Murdoch's face.
Deng intercepted him with a furious slap.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba, Karen Freifeld and Nicola Leske; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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