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Notable
Cases
“Marvin” Case: Seven-Figure Settlement
A flight attendant, who lived in the
South and was the sole support of her four children, met a
single, never married doctor from California on a flight.
Their long-distance dating relationship developed into a romance
and deep attachment. After a couple years, the doctor asked
the flight attendant to move, with her children, to California,
and helped her find and rent a house in Santa Clara County.
After several more years, the doctor asked the flight attendant
and her children to live with him. She moved in, continuing
her own work as well as acting as a homemaker and business
hostess for the doctor's growing business. After the airline
ceased operations, the doctor asked her not to find another
job so she could devote herself to him, his business, and
the household.
Finally, the doctor asked her to marry him, but only if she
signed a premarital agreement renouncing all rights to the
income and assets accumulated in their years together, and
severely limiting her rights in future income. Now totally
dependent on the doctor, she signed the agreement.
Shortly thereafter, the doctor left her and filed for divorce.
The doctor tried to enforce the premarital agreement and even
asserted that she owed him money based on a vacation home
investment. The doctor's wife turned to McManis Faulkner for
help.
James McManis and William Faulkner
challenged the validity of the premarital agreement. The main
issue in the case was the client’s right to the large
increase in the value of the doctor's business before marriage,
which represented the major economic asset. Unmarried couples
typically have no rights in the assets and income of each
other accumulated while they live together, even if they later
marry. Only if the couple has a contract (oral or written)
with each other are they entitled to share assets accumulated
during their relationship. (Marvin v. Marvin (1976) 18 Cal.
3d 660). In this case, McManis Faulkner had to overcome the
double barriers of premarital assets and a premarital agreement.
The doctor fiercely resisted giving up any of the multimillion
dollar estate he and his rejected wife had accumulated, leaving
the latter with the prospect of coming out of their decade
long relationship with no career, no money and children to
support. McManis Faulkner thoroughly prepared the case for
trial, winning a seven-figure settlement in spite of the many
obstacles.
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