The Divorce Papers: A Novel

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The Divorce Papers: A Novel Page 2

by Rieger, Susan


  Your job is to think and listen like a lawyer but talk to her as a kind acquaintance, someone who doesn’t know her well but is nonetheless warmly disposed toward her. (You’ve got to drop the criminal lawyer’s skeptical demeanor.) Prompt her, encourage her to answer your questions, but don’t press. It may take an hour; don’t let it go much beyond that. Nothing new will be said after that. (Shrinks stop after 45 minutes, on the same basic theory, I believe, and they do it with a level of ruthlessness that is the envy of appellate judges.) Take notes, of course; there’s no other way to remember the details (wherein God and the Devil reside). Then write it up. Or you can tape it. You’ll be off the case after that.

  Fees: You’ll need to talk money with her, not something you do with your clients. The usual retainer for a divorce with children is $6,000, which covers the first 40 hours (at $150/hour), not including costs. She may wish only to consult, in which case you should bill her at $150/hour for the time you actually spend with her. If she decides to sign on, we’ll add the write-up to the bill; if she’s just shopping, we’ll eat it.

  Client Conduct: Yes, find out if there’s another man or woman, for both Durkheims. We’re a no-fault divorce state, but if the case goes to trial, the judge can consider fault, and in custody fights, even the kitchen sink comes in. It’s always better to know what they’ve done—though of course, they always lie to you.

  You might see if she has been acting out. It’s not unusual for one or both of the divorcing parties to misbehave, create scenes in public, make extravagant purchases with the joint credit card, slash tires, bug a phone or bedroom, in short, do things they’d never do in normal life. Judges don’t like really really bad behavior, and if it’s going on, it’s good (if possible) to nip it in the bud.

  One last thought, which is not, strictly speaking, relevant but is nonetheless interesting. You might find out if Dr. D’s parents are dead. I’ve found that people are more likely to seek divorce—and do it more cold-bloodedly—after their parents are gone. I get the sense that Dr. D is the one pushing for divorce. Meiklejohn didn’t say this outright, but he mentioned his daughter’s reluctance to speak to an attorney. She felt it was too soon.

  VIP Clients: The Meiklejohns and the Mathers (distaff side) are longtime clients of the firm. Proctor’s grandfather was the executor of Mrs. D’s great-grandfather’s will, and Proctor is the executor of her mother’s. Mrs. D’s mother (née Maria Mather) died more than 20 years ago. Ten months later, her father remarried. The current Mrs. Meiklejohn, Cindy, is, as you know, Society (if you can say there is any Society left in New Salem. Everyone—except you, of course—belongs to the Cricket Club these days: no more inherited memberships). She’s a good deal younger than her husband but more than ½ HA +7. My guess is she doesn’t care what happens with the Durkheims—except insofar as their behavior upsets her husband. She doesn’t like to see him unhappy. I’m with her on that. Good luck—and again, thanks.

  Miscellany: Gentleman’s Agreement is a movie about anti-Semitism from the late ’40s, with Gregory Peck playing Jewish. You need to bone up on your movie backlist, Sophie. You have seen The Third Man, haven’t you?

  TRAYNOR, HAND, WYZANSKI

  222 CHURCH STREET

  NEW SALEM, NARRAGANSETT 06555

  (393) 876-5678

  Divorce Work Sheet: Income & Deductions and Assets & Liabilities

  Attorney Work Product

  INCOME & DEDUCTIONS

  Sources of Income (gross)

  Salary

  Employer 1

  Employer 2

  Other Sources

  Self-Employment

  Bonuses

  Interest

  Dividends

  Royalties

  Gifts

  Trust Disbursements

  Spousal Support

  Other

  TOTAL INCOME

  Deductions from Income

  Fed Tax ____ (#) exemptions

  State Tax ____ (#) exemptions FICA

  Medicare

  Other

  TOTAL DEDUCTIONS

  ASSETS & LIABILITIES

  Assets (fair market value)

  Real Estate

  Motor Vehicles

  Personal Property

  Retirement/Deferred Plans

  Pension

  IRAs, 401(k)s

  Other

  Bank Accounts

  Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds

  Other

  TOTAL ASSETS

  Liabilities

  Mortgages

  Loans

  Automobile

  Home Equity

  Personal

  Credit Card

  Education Loans

  Other

  TOTAL LIABILITIES

  Divorce Work Sheet: Monthly Living Expenses

  Attorney Work Product

  HOME

  Mortgage

  Principal

  Interest

  Real Estate Taxes

  Rent (or co-op/condo minimum maintenance payment)

  Insurance

  Home Maintenance Including Allowance for Major Home Repairs

  Grounds Maintenance (gardens, snow removal, lawn mowing, tree

  trimming)

  Utilities (heating, gas, electricity, water, sewer)

  Phone

  Domestic Help

  Furnishings

  Other

  FOOD

  Groceries

  Children’s School Lunches

  Other

  CLOTHING

  Clothes & Shoes

  Dry Cleaning & Laundry

  Other

  PERSONAL CARE AND MAINTENANCE

  Hairdresser

  Hygiene Products

  Other

  TRANSPORTATION

  Automobiles

  Loan Payment

  Gasoline

  Maintenance & Repairs

  Insurance

  Excise Tax

  Parking

  Other Transportation

  EDUCATION

  Tuition & Fees

  Loan Repayment

  Other

  CHILD CARE

  Day Care

  Child Support Obligations

  Other

  MEDICAL

  Insurance

  General Practitioner/Pediatrician

  Gynecologist

  Psychological Counselor

  Physical Therapist

  Dentist/Orthodontist

  Eyeglasses

  Prescription Drugs

  Other

  DEBT AND OTHER FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS

  Credit Card

  Personal Loans

  Alimony Payments

  Other

  PAYMENTS TO SAVINGS

  Pensions & Retirement Accounts

  IRAs, 401(k)s, etc.

  Savings Accounts & Investments

  Other

  INSURANCE

  Life

  Disability & Long-Term

  Other

  LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT

  Movies, Theater, Concerts, Sports Events, etc.

  Sports Activities

  Lessons, Fees & Programs

  Clothes & Equipment

  Eating Out

  Parties & Other In-Home Entertainment

  Vacations

  Books, Magazines, Newspapers

  Gifts

  Entertainment Equipment (VCR, TV, computer, etc.)

  Household Pets

  Food & Supplies

  Veterinary Expenses

  Other

  CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

  MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES (Specify)

  TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENSES

  Narragansett Statutes

  Title 33 of the Narragansett Code, Sections 801ff.

  Dissolution of Marriage, Annulment, and Legal Separation

  Table of Contents [Redacted]

  Sec. 801. Grounds for dissolution of marriage; legal separation; annulment.

  Sec. 804. Service and filing of com
plaint.

  Sec. 805. Stipulation of parties and finding of irretrievable breakdown.

  Sec. 806. Paternity establishment.

  Sec. 807. Orders regarding custody and support of minor children.

  Sec. 808. Counsel for minor children. Duties.

  Sec. 809. Parental fitness.

  Sec. 810. Best interests of the child.

  Sec. 811. Psychiatric or psychological evaluation of the child.

  Sec. 812. Joint custody. Definition. Presumption.

  Sec. 813. Presumption regarding best interest of child to be in custody of parent.

  Sec. 823. Parenting education programs. Required.

  Sec. 830. Equitable distribution.

  Sec. 832. Alimony (also known as maintenance or spousal support).

  Sec. 833. Temporary alimony and support and use of family home or other residential dwelling.

  Sec. 834. Parents’ obligation for maintenance of minor child.

  Breaking Free Without Breaking Down:

  A Psychological Portrait of Divorce

  Patricia Lahey

  April 1997

  Excerpts: page 37–39

  People who get divorced are still attached. Separating is hard, even when husband and wife agree it’s the right thing. And usually they don’t agree on that any more than they agree on custody, alimony, or child support. They have to despise each other to go through with it. Otherwise, they can’t do it; they don’t have the stamina. They demonize the other person so that they can justify their delinquencies, their selfishness. And every party’s the injured party. Often the person who initiates the divorce is the angrier, the more self-righteous, the more vindictive. Not in the beginning necessarily. Guilt has a part but usually only in the early stages. People want to be right but never so much as when they’re divorcing.…

  In my experience, men rarely leave, no matter how unhappy they are, unless there’s another woman. They find someone, then they leave. They don’t like being alone; they don’t do it well. The woman may not be someone he wants to marry; she may simply be a transitional object, someone to get him over the hump. The obverse doesn’t hold. If the woman is the one who is asking for a separation, there may not be anyone else. A lot of women simply want out; they fantasize about being alone, sitting in a white room with no phone.

  TRAYNOR, HAND, WYZANSKI

  222 CHURCH STREET

  NEW SALEM, NARRAGANSETT 06555

  (393) 876-5678

  MEMORANDUM

  Attorney Work Product

  From: Sophie Diehl, Divorce-Attorney-For-A-Day

  To: David Greaves

  RE: Matter of Durkheim: Intake Interview Cover Memo

  Date: March 17, 1999

  Attachments: Fee Agreement

  Intake Interview Transcript

  Divorce Work Sheet: Summary Biography: Maria Meiklejohn Durkheim

  Divorce Work Sheet: Summary Biography: Daniel Edward Durkheim

  Domestic Relations Summons

  Complaint for Divorce

  You won’t believe this. Mrs. Durkheim’s husband’s lawyers (K&B! Get out the shovels) had her served with the divorce summons while she was having lunch with a friend at Golightly’s. I almost fell off my chair. I would have been less surprised if one of my regular clients told me he had offed someone during lunch at Golightly’s.

  Down to business. I met with Mrs. Durkheim this morning at 10:30. I think I did okay; at least I didn’t bungle it, which was a possibility given my deficits, legal and human. Mrs. Maria (Mia) Mather Meiklejohn Durkheim has retained the services of the firm (but not me, as I explained to her) to represent her in a divorce action against her husband, Dr. Daniel E. Durkheim. She signed the Fee Agreement on the spot, barely glancing at the terms. I advised her against this but met stubborn resistance. The interview took an hour, the discussion of the laws and the retainer another hour, and the form-filling a half hour. (I billed her account $375, for two and a half hours of work, a first for me. Not my usual $50 plus costs.) I taped the interview and asked Hannah to transcribe it so Fiona (Felix? you?) won’t have to start all over again. It gave me a taste of how your generation of lawyers works, dictating into a machine and then having the secretary transcribe it. Associates type their memos and their briefs, too, and even do all the formatting. (I’m not being ageist, merely observant.)

  My box of tissues went unused. Mrs. Durkheim did not vent. She was composed, collected, articulate. While she answered questions willingly, easily, she expected me to take the lead in the interview. She asked me to summarize the law and explain her options. I came clean early on and told her I was pinch-hitting for the firm’s ace divorce lawyer, who was out of town. She seemed fine with that.

  I asked her questions about her marriage, the family’s finances, her daughter. She was very knowledgeable, no baby-wife she. I was able to pull together a rough chronology, synchronizing salary history and marital history. (See the Divorce Work Sheet: Summary Biographies for both Durkheims.) I explained Narragansett’s no-fault/fault statute and the principle of equitable distribution in dividing property and awarding support. I told her she could not effectively contest the divorce or refuse to cooperate. The parties do not have to agree to a divorce; if one of them wants out, she can get out. (“Not like a get,” she said.) I said it was in her interest to cooperate. A divorce, I explained, is simply a civil action which dissolves a civil union and allocates property, obligations, and progeny; it does not provide “closure” or any other cathartic function. (“I get it,” she said. “It’s all—it’s only—about money.”) I gave her a brief rundown on custody (best interest of the child) and explained the difference between joint and sole, legal and physical. I told her that most divorces were settled by negotiation, not trial, and that the parties could make any agreement they wanted so long as it wasn’t against public policy. I did my reading but reading isn’t experience. (By the way, I didn’t bill for the 2+ hours I spent doing homework last night; it didn’t seem right. A real divorce lawyer would have known it all.) If anything I said was incorrect, Fiona can set her straight.

  I told her she had two options: she could wait until her husband made her an offer, or she could make an offer to him. I gave her a copy of the Divorce Work Sheets and told her to take a stab at pulling together a projected annual budget, post-divorce, for herself and her daughter. She said she would do whatever was necessary.

  She was wonderfully clearheaded throughout. She’s very smart and she understands what she needs to do. She had even called a Realtor before coming in to get a new valuation on the family home. Can you believe she had the presence of mind to do that? The rich are different—and she knows it. She’s angry at her husband but her anger hasn’t clouded her judgment. She’s not out to fleece him. For one thing, she has, if not money of her own, then access to money; for another, though money is not nothing to him, he wants success more. And on that point, she doesn’t wish him well. She’s put a proper Sicilian curse on him.

  Mrs. Durkheim has acted out a bit, though nothing too extreme. She conducted a brief, unpleasant correspondence with the woman she believes is her husband’s new lover. She brought copies with her and gave them to me. I’ve put them in the file, along with the note she wrote her husband after she had been served the summons at Golightly’s. Her epistolary style, as you will see, is very much to the point.

  Mrs. Durkheim is 41 years old but looks younger. She’s tall (my height) with blond hair, straight black eyebrows, and eyes that look black. Although her Christian name is Maria, she goes by Mia and always has. She was named for her mother, who was called by her full name. Since her mother’s death, her father sometimes calls her Maria. She doesn’t think he does it out of sentiment, only carelessness.

  I like Maria Durkheim. She still has a sense of humor (which was the first casualty of my parents’ divorce), and she loves her child. She probably sounds harder in the interview than she actually is. I don’t think her brave talk is all bravado—maybe half. She is determi
ned not to feel sorry for herself, at least not publicly. Good for her. Dr. Durkheim’s father died in 1992, his mother in September, 1998. He inherited a small amount of cash and a 10-year-old car.

  Traynor, Hand, Wyzanski

  222 Church Street

  New Salem, Narragansett 06555

  (393) 876-5678

  ATTORNEYS AT LAW

  FEE AGREEMENT

  I, Maria M. Durkheim, the “Client” of 404 St. Cloud Street, New Salem, NA, hereby retain the firm of Traynor, Hand, Wyzanski, the “Attorneys,” in connection with: divorce proceedings and such other work as may from time to time be performed by the Attorneys on the Client’s behalf.

  1. The Client shall pay to the Attorneys $6,000.00 as an initial retainer in this matter, and, in consideration of this payment, the Attorneys agree to perform legal services as herein provided.

  2. The initial retainer paid by the Client shall be applied against legal services actually performed for the Client by the Attorneys (as well as any attorneys working under their direction). There shall be no minimum fee. The services shall be charged at the hourly rate of $150.00.

  3. Hourly time charges for legal services performed include but are not limited to: court appearances; office conferences; telephone conferences; legal research; depositions; review of file materials and documents sent or received; preparation for trials, hearings, and conferences; and drafting of pleadings and instruments, correspondence, and office memoranda.

  4. The Client shall in addition pay for all out-of-pocket disbursements incurred in connection with this matter, including but not limited to: filing fees, witness fees, travel, sheriff’s and constable’s fees, expenses of depositions, toll calls and faxes, and investigative expenses. The Attorneys agree to obtain the Client’s prior approval before incurring any disbursement in excess of $150.00.

  5. The Client shall pay the initial retainer to the Attorneys no later than: April 1, 1999. The Attorneys shall provide the Client with an itemized statement of services and out-of-pocket disbursements on July 1, 1999, and every three months thereafter. In the event the time charges and/or out-of-pocket disbursements of the Attorneys exceed the initial retainer, the Attorneys shall submit additional itemized billings on the first business day of the month, payable by the Client within 30 days of the billing date.

 

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