Frank, Jamie McCourt Divorced

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon signed the order finalizing their divorce Oct. 26.

A final decision on who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers was still up in the air Tuesday, but Frank and Jamie McCourt are officially single again.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon signed the order finalizing their divorce Oct. 26.

News of the finalized divorce didn't break until Tuesday, when the judgment showed up on the court's computerized case log.

Still pending, however, was a decision on whether Jamie McCourt has an ownership stake in the Dodgers. Frank McCourt contends he is the sole owner of the team.

Key to that issue is the interpretation of several post-nuptial agreements. One says the Dodgers are excluded from Frank McCourt's sole property, while the others say the team is included in his sole property, and not community property owned by them both.

According to trial testimony, in March 2004, attorney Lawrence Silverstein prepared three documents for the McCourts to sign to enforce their marital property agreement. He said he found an error indicating the Dodgers were the couple's community property and corrected the typo.

He later decided to have three additional copies prepared, but each of those had the original mistake and went undetected, according to Silverstein.

Both McCourts signed the correct versions together, but the three additional copies that he directed Jamie McCourt alone to sign minutes later had the error, according to Silverstein.

The lawyer said he later took the copies with the mistakes to California and had Frank McCourt sign them in April 2004. Both McCourts have testified they did not read the incorrect documents closely enough to detect the errors.

The McCourts, who were married for more than 30 years, met with a mediator last week and were reportedly given a settlement proposal to consider in the Dodgers ownership issue.

Frank McCourt, 57, fired his 56-year-old wife as the Dodgers' chief executive officer the day after the team lost the 2009 National League Championship Series to the Philadelphia Phillies in October. She filed for divorce five days after her firing.

In May, Frank McCourt was ordered to pay Jamie $225,000 a month in temporary spousal support, plus $412,159 monthly to pay the mortgages on the couple's properties.

In a 55-page ruling, the judge also ordered that the couple sell a home they own in Cabo San Lucas. Jamie McCourt was authorized to use half the proceeds of that sale to help pay for her attorneys' fees, Gordon ruled.

Jamie McCourt's attorneys had asked in March for nearly $1 million a month, while Frank McCourt's lawyer countered that his client was willing to pay $150,000 monthly.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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