Posted on 10/10/2001 6:43:27 AM PDT by The Other Harry
October 10, 2001
Court rules in favor of Bonds' ex-wife
Woman entitled to half the value of 3 homes
The Fremont Argus
SAN FRANCISCO -- A state appeals court ruled Tuesday that Giants slugger Barry Bonds owes his ex-wife half the value of three homes they owned together.
The appeals court was left to resolve the property dispute after the state Supreme Court ruled last August the couple's prenuptial agreement was valid even though only Bonds had a lawyer present when it was signed.
Bonds' ex-wife, Sun, a Swedish immigrant who met Bonds in Montreal in 1987, had no lawyer when she signed the prenuptial agreement on the eve of their 1988 Las Vegas wedding. In 1999, a state appeals court ruled that it was unlikely a trial court could find the agreement valid. The high court overturned that decision.
Last month, Gov. Gray Davis signed into a law a bill sparked in part by the Bonds prenuptial dispute. The new law bars a court from finding that a premarital agreement was valid unless the affected party was represented by an attorney or had waived that representation in writing.
When Sun Bonds signed the agreement, Barry Bonds was earning $106,000 a year with the Pittsburgh Pirates. When the couple split up in 1994, after six years of marriage, the outfielder was making $8 million a year with the San Francisco Giants.
Without a prenuptial agreement, Sun Bonds would have been entitled to half her husband's earnings under California's community property law.
In Tuesday's ruling, a three-judge appeals panel agreed with Sun Bonds, saying that Barry Bonds reclassified the parcels as community property when he signed deeds that specified the properties were jointly owned.
She's now entitled to half the value of three homes -- in Atherton, Murietta and Pennsylvania, the court said. Her lawyer, Paige Wickland, refused to reveal their value, adding the couple is trying to reach a settlement.
The couple has two children, 10 and 11, and still live in the San Francisco Bay area.
Barry Bonds has remarried and has another daughter.
Under an order from San Mateo County Superior Court, he pays his ex-wife $20,000 per month in child support, but stopped paying spousal support at the end of 1998.
In today's ruling, a three-judge appeals panel agreed with Sun Bonds, saying that Barry Bonds reclassified the parcels as community property when he signed deeds that specified the properties were jointly owned.
There are a handful of states, largely in the Southwest, in which this can occur. Weary veterans of the marriage wars often know the list by heart.
Im not sure how I could have ever gotten by on $20,000 a month as a kid.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Youngsters need a little "jingle" in their pockets, you know.
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