The Musk Case from the wife’s point of view
By MaritalMediation Staff on July 9, 2010
Musk vs Musk is the case of a billionaire’s postnuptial and the California legal struggle upon their divorce.
There are no simple answers in the Musk case, and their disagreement has become very public through the former couple’s blogging.
For the husband’s counterpoint, read his HuffingtonPost essay.
Justine Musk sums up her frustration here:
The irony of this whole thing is that I don’t want hundreds of millions of dollars . I think my ex-husband is brilliant and works like a demon and deserves his success and his wealth. But I also think — after eight years of marriage and six kids (five surviving) — that I am entitled to a fair settlement, which does include a small piece of “community” property (other than the house, which is mine, and it is a lovely house, and I am so stupidly privileged that it’s ridiculous, and this whole thing is surreal). My ex-husband and I remain in serious disagreement as to what “fair” is, and we also remain in serious disagreement about certain issues surrounding the postnup.
And the details:
On Monday I was in court because of my divorce and an extremely harsh postnuptial document I signed shortly after my marriage. The case has to do with fraud, basically — what was disclosed, what wasn’t disclosed, what was misrepresented, and whether or not this misrepresentation is protected by mediation confidentiality.*
(* Mediation confidentiality also swallows up something called “undue influence”. Because of the relationship between husband and wife — and the highest standard of fiduciary duty that they owe each other — a postnuptial agreement is regarded differently than a prenuptial agreement. If the agreement is extremely one-sided — if one partner gives up as much as I did without getting something equal or nearly equal in return — then the law decides that “undue influence” took place (ie: the less powerful partner was pressured or coerced) and renders the agreement invalid. Because of mediation confidentiality, however, “undue influence” can’t be applied to my case.)
From love soul & vision.
Learn more about postnuptial agreements.
Tags: postmarital agreement, postnup, postnuptial agreement
Categories: News, Postnuptial agreements
