“Will you marry me?” Once that special question is popped, generally it is followed up with that beautiful, but expensive diamond ring placed on her finger. So what happens to the ring when the wedding doesn’t happen?
Generally, once a gift is made in California it cannot be revoked. However, Civil Code § 1590 provides a specific rule for the gift of an engagement ring.
Kaley Cuoco became the second-highest paid TV actress (2nd to Sofia Vergara), after signing a $72 million dollar 3-year contract for her role in CBS’s hit show The Big Bang Theory. Yes, that’s $1 million dollars per episode for 72 episodes….and yes, now I’m reconsidering my chosen career path. Ahem, sorry, I guess that’s beside the point.
“Race to the courthouse” is an informal name used to describe the rule in some jurisdictions that the first conveyance instrument, mortgage, lien or judgment to be filed with the appropriate recorder’s office, will have priority and prevail over documents filed subsequently, irrespective of the date of execution of the documents at issue. In popular culture, being the party to file a lawsuit first is always portrayed as preferable. But like most things on TV, they just don’t hold up in real life; except maybe in Hollywood. (Hollywood is hard to call “real life” in any case.)
Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale’s divorce was recently finalized after a 13-year marriage. They had 3 children together. Gavin subjected Gwen to the stereotypical man cheats on woman with the nanny scenario. And allegedly in this case, man cheated on woman with nanny for 3 years before woman found out and filed for divorce. Even so, each party reportedly walked away from the divorce getting what they wanted.
In the first week of April, news broke that Drew Barrymore will be seeking a divorce from her third husband, Will Kopelman, after a marriage lasting just under four years. The couple has two children together, 3-year-old Olive and almost 2-year-old Frankie.
In light of the statistics, this news doesn’t seem too shocking. Surely we are all pretty familiar with the statistic that about 50 percent of first marriages end in divorce. It is a bit less widely recognized that for each time a person gets remarried, the higher their chances of divorcing become. Past statistics from the US Census bureau have showed that 60 percent of second marriages end and 73 percent of third marriages end in divorce.
Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk’s wife, British actress Talulah Riley, filed for divorce on March 21st in Los Angeles. Musk may be experiencing deja vu right about now, as this is the second time that the couple will be going through a divorce. Originally married in 2010, the two already divorced in 2012. Then they remarried just a year later, in 2013. And yet again, Musk filed for divorce in 2015, only to later dismiss his request. This time it is Riley who pulled the trigger to initiate the divorce process once again.
Coldplay singer Chris Martin opened up in an interview published in The Sunday Times on March 20th about his 2014 spilt with Gwyneth Paltrow. He described his divorce from Paltrow as a “weird one,” their split having been referred to as a “conscious uncoupling” rather than a “divorce,” where they remain close and continue to take vacations together with their two children. But even as smooth as their split has seemed, Martin admits that it led to a year-long depression, and he continues to struggle daily.
Divorce isn’t easy. People get angry or hurt, and emotions can cloud even the most intelligent person’s judgment. We’ve already written many blogs about the need to “play nice” in divorce proceedings, and the benefits of positive co-parenting, but one star’s recent divorce has hit our radar as a real-life example of the positive behavior that we have been tirelessly preaching.
Actress Hilary Duff and former NHL player Mike Comrie’s divorce was finalized in January 2016, after their separation a year earlier. Continue reading
Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s 15 year-old son Rocco made headlines recently after he decided that he wanted to live with his dad in London and then refused to return to see his mom in New York for the holidays. Madonna ran into court just before Christmas, where the judge ordered Rocco to be returned to New York so that his living situation could be sorted out. Apparently, even with the Court’s orders, Madonna has had no luck bringing Rocco back to New York even after flying to London and trying to reason with him. According to Guy’s attorney, Rocco will have his own court-appointed attorney at the next hearing which is reportedly scheduled in March.
As Chris Rock prepares to host the upcoming Oscars, and while much of the population is focused on his potential commentary in light of the highly-criticized lack of diversity in Oscar nominees, something else has captured our attention this week as an interesting legal question that has risen in Chris’s divorce from Malaak Compton-Rock. Chris filed for divorce in New Jersey last year after 19 years of marriage and, of course, their case encompasses just about everything that we have come to expect out of a celebrity divorce. Continue reading
San Diego Divorce Attorneys Blog