April 15, 2015

Somehow Donald Sterling's wife won her court case against V. Stiviano and recovered $2.6 million.

I know. It would be a lot more interesting if we could remember who these damned people are, but there was a time, not that long ago, when we felt compelled to talk about them constantly and to develop all sorts of detailed opinions about their doings. Something about basketball and a secret recording with some racism in it... remember?

Anyway:
In a long legal battle between the two women that ended Tuesday, Shelly Sterling argued the money and gifts her husband generously lavished on Stiviano, weren’t his to lavish. It was joint property. In California, assets earned in marriage belong to both parties and cannot be given away without consent. And Shelly Sterling most definitely did not do that.
The old joint property move!

25 comments:

Sydney said...

Kudos to the wife. That was a brilliant revenge.

MadisonMan said...

Somehow. You sound surprised that she won. But given the law, should you be?

I'm pleased for the wife in this case. Gold-diggers beware! Make sure your paramour divorces his wife before you accept any gift. Or at the very least get a notarized statement from the wife that she agrees to the gift-showering that you are enjoying.

traditionalguy said...

Note that gifts of titled assets are targeted. They are still findable and attachable. Cash or jewelry are gone with the wind.

Brando said...

Nice to see a golddigger have her scheme backfire. But what a frightening legal concept--if someone in California gives you a gift, you now have to be certain that they are not married or if they are, that their spouse agrees to give you the gift before you can accept it? Does this rule have a sort of "bona fide purchaser" equivalent for a donee of gifts?

Brando said...

I see traditionalguy answered my question.

MadisonMan said...

Thanks traditionalguy for the clarification!

Message to spouses being two-timed: Keep a close rein on the checkbook!

Bad Lieutenant said...

Good, I despise that "woman" and if she can't be devoured by real sharks, legal ones will do.

Of course in law, I suppose you're not supposed to root for the result but for the process, so I wouldn't be able to speak to that. I certainly thinks that anytime some harpy gets her claws into some old fool, there should be some sort of justice by which I mean stripping her of IGG. as Obama wants to do to the coal industry, I think gold diggers should be driven out of business. Let them learn to type.

JAORE said...

She was one of the most unappealing characters thrust into my focus in ages. It is hard to have any feelings about this than happiness.

tim maguire said...

At first I thought this was a Mad Men post.

Fernandinande said...

In California, assets earned in marriage belong to both parties and cannot be given away without consent.

But they are earned without consent...

And Shelly Sterling most definitely did not do that.

Sebastian said...

"we felt compelled to talk about them constantly"

I know what you're saying, but still -- "we" did not feel so compelled. In fact, seeing through the manipulation inevitably involved in all racial politics these days, to turn sordid episodes into convenient morality tales, some of "us" resisted the compulsion.

Beldar said...

The question isn't consent, if California's community property law is like other community property states (including Texas, where I'm licensed). Maybe it's not; California has screwed up plenty of laws on its own. But in Texas and, I believe, in most other community property states, the question is whether a disposition of community property constituted a "fraud on the community." And that's much harder to show than mere lack of consent. I suspect these facts might have met that standard.

I also suspect that the WaPo has misstated California law, but I'm insufficiently concerned to bother doing any research about it. There aren't enough hours in the day to catch and correct all of the WaPo's mistakes.

lemondog said...

Cash or jewelry are gone with the wind.

Did Sterling give her $1.2m in cash or by check?

If given by Sterling to her by check, with evidence of the cashed check receipt and if she has bank accounts and or other assets, why couldn't these be liquidated for repayment?

SGT Ted said...

It just goes to show that for such women, it's about the money, not love.

Freeman Hunt said...

Good. It's good to see marriage taken seriously.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Marriage and property are so weird.

I haven't had it explained to my satisfaction *why* a spouse has a right to assets he/she did not earn.

I have a friend going through a divorce right now. Comfortable but not rich; no kids; wife sat at home and quilted and gardened and smoked pot for 25 years while he worked hard and amassed some degree of wealth. Why should she be entitled to half of what she did not earn?

Hagar said...

I do not think Donald Sterling was an "old fool." From the reporting, I think he knew quite well what he was paying for, and there were no misunderstandings between him and Stiviano.
Also, they did not make any secret of their relationship, neither to Mrs. Sterling nor the rest of the world.
It may have been a dirty bargain in your opinion, but it was Donald Sterling's money, and the bargain should have been honored.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Fuck her.

How do you make a hormone?

Don't pay her.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Did you see that cunt? I wouldn't fuck her with your dick. PS, you are welcome.

Bad Lieutenant said...

There's no accounting for taste, but for betraying him, she should have been brutally murdered. If that was an available remedy under law, I would consent to have her estate distribute her ill gotten gains.

Freeman Hunt said...

I haven't had it explained to my satisfaction *why* a spouse has a right to assets he/she did not earn.

Because in marriage you are no longer individuals but a unit. Anything either person earns goes into the unit. You're a team. If you didn't do it that way, marriage wouldn't mean anything financially. It would also mean that both people, if each wanted any financial security, would have to work. You'd have no legal protection for spouses without careers outside the home, even if both spouses had agreed that one would focus on making the money while the other focused on something else (homemaking, child rearing, volunteering, whatever.) And if you were going to look at it purely in terms of earnings, you'd have to account for all of the unpaid work provided by the stay-at-home spouse under the assumption that the earnings of the breadwinner would be shared.

cubanbob said...

Apparently Sterling wasn't all that senile when it came to buying the cars. Two Bentley's, a Ferrari and a Land Rover for $400k, the old boy must have bought them used. As for the wife, she wanted revenge and she got it. At her level of wealth, a couple of mil is pocket change.

Fritz said...

traditionalguy said...
Note that gifts of titled assets are targeted. They are still findable and attachable. Cash or jewelry are gone with the wind.


Hence the attraction between women and jewelry.

traditionalguy said...

Cash on deposit in a bank account in Viv's name is garnishable only because it is no longer cash. It is a chose in action against the bank with a clear title owner.

$100 bills are cash. Good luck finding them.

Skeptical Voter said...

Wife takes back the sums that the other woman earned on her back.