Recent Blog Posts in April 2011

As anyone seeking divorce advice in Pasadena knows, it isn’t always possible to remain friendly with your ex. Yet sometimes it pays off to be civil to an ex-spouse — literally. Take Larry Fortensky, for example. The former construction worker and ex-husband of film legend Elizabeth Taylor kept in touch with his famous ex-wife and recently revealed the star left him $825,000 in her will.

Taylor, who passed away last month from congestive heart failure, was well-known for her generosity and big heart. She kept tabs on Fortensky over recent years even though the pair had divorced in 1996. Fortensky had fallen on rough times after suffering from a fall. Taylor previously came to his aid a few years ago when he was in danger of losing his house, sending him a check for $15,000 to keep his home out of foreclosure.

The last week, he received a letter from Taylor’s lawyers saying he had inherited $825,000. Fortensky talked to Taylor regularly and told the Daily Mail they spoke the day before she went into the hospital for the last time.

“She was going into the hospital the next day. I thought she was going to be okay — I told her she would outlive me; she said ‘Larry, I’m going to be okay.’”

Days later, Taylor passed away and Fortensky learned about it on television.

“I was so shocked — I was so sure she would get to go home and I would talk to her once again.”

Elizabeth Taylor married Larry Fortensky in 1991. He was her eighth and final husband. Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Liza Minnelli and Nancy Regan were among the guests at the big Hollywood wedding, which became legendary for the paparazzi helicopters hovering above the ceremony. The pair met at the Betty Ford Clinic where he was being treated for alcoholism and she was being treated for prescription drug addiction.

Seeking divorce advice in Pasadena but still have hopes of a reconciliation? Perhaps your marriage can also be saved by a Navajo blanket. We’re kidding, of course — but apparently anything is possible. Just ask supermodel Stephanie Seymour and her billionaire husband Peter Brant. The formerly mega-bickering couple reunited and Seymour says it was a cherished Navajo blanket that brought them back together.

In an interview withTown & Country magazine, Seymour says the reconciliation started with a peace offering. Seymour and Brant battled in the courtroom and in the press. She said he was unfaithful. He said she was a party girl with a problem with drugs and alcohol. There were rumors of nanny wars, violent outbursts and high-priced settlements. Both Seymour and Brant took to the press to bash one another. She also allegedly bashed his car window with a baseball bat while he reportedly burned money so he wouldn’t have to give it to her. He took art from her bedroom walls and she broke into Brant’s house to get it back. In short, these two made the War of the Roses look like a game of Candy Land.

Enter the magical blanket. Seymour told the magazine that the never-ending feuding began to take its toll on her; one night, while alone, she was inspired to reach out to Brant. She saw the blanket, which was Brant’s since he was a teenager, and decided to give it back to him. The prized possession opened up the pair to talk about calling off the attack dogs and, eventually, led to them getting back together.

“The 'dirty fight' is all about winning, not healing," Seymour said. "It's fueled by people you're paying. It is the lawyers talking and not you. Of course we're in therapy. And then I have my own therapist, and the kids have theirs, and there is nothing wrong with this."

Divorce attorneys in Pasadena know how difficult it is to keep celebrity hookups and breakups out of the papers. So we’re as shocked as the citizens of South Korea, who were dumbstruck over the weekend when they found out two of the country’s biggest stars kept their marriage and divorce a secret for nearly 15 years.

South Korean journalists were sent into a frenzy last Thursday when a sports newspaper broke the news that E Ji-ah, a television actress, and pop star Seo Tae-ji had been married for almost a decade, divorced for nearly five years, and are currently entangled in a war for a high-priced financial settlement. E Ji-ah is seeking 5.5. billion won, or roughly $5 million in U.S. dollars. The secrecy, the big money and the divorce are the kinds of thing you’d see on a Korean soap opera.

Ms. E’s management agency went into damage control mode when the news broke. She quickly released a statement wherein she asked for the public’s forgiveness.

"Since I made a début, I have had no choice but to conceal my past, because the other side was a very famous person,” Ms. E said in the statement. “I feel really sorry about that (covering up). I wanted to work things out smoothly with him whom I dearly loved even though I was very young, but it didn’t turn out as I wanted. I am having a hard time for myself.”

The couple got married in 1997 after Seo Tae-ji went solo. The pair moved to the United States and divorced in 2006. Seo has long been a favorite of Korean pop music while E has largely remained secretive and a mystery to the press. Even basic information like her age has been concealed, although she is believed to be in her 30s meaning she may have married Seo as a teenager. She is currently linked to popular Korean actor Jung Woo-sung.

Hollywood couple watchers and divorce attorneys in Pasadena saw this one coming: Country singer LeAnn Rimes and actor Eddie Cibrian told 40 guests that they were coming to an engagement party for the pair at a private home in Malibu, Calif., on Saturday. The crowd of family and friends, which included Cibrian’s two sons from his previous marriage — Mason, 7, and Jake, 4 — were shocked to find out that they in fact had been invited to the wedding of the two stars. This trip down the aisle, the second for both stars, has been marred with controversy, adultery and public scrutiny.

Rimes went from America’s country sweetheart to the home wrecker we love to hate after she hooked up with Cibrian on the set of the Lifetime movie Northern Lights. The pair made headlines in 2009 around the globe, at first denying they had hooked up, followed by a confession and two messy divorces. The two further caused raised eyebrows after appearing together in public even though they were both technically still married. Meanwhile, LeAnn’s ex, Dean Shermett, gracefully disappeared from public view and got remarried — but Cibrian wasn’t so lucky. His first wife, model Brandi Glanville, blasted the pair publicly in a series of television interviews.

Rimes, for her part, has recently spoken out about the relationship with Cibrian. The Great American Country Channel’s Backstory: LeAnn Rimes featured the star speaking candidly about Cibrian.

"I know I didn't do it the right way," she said of how she handled news of her affair with Eddie going public. "It got really messy, but I have learned a lot from that and I'm not glad it happened, but I know why it did.”

Rimes has taken to Twitter in recent months to defend her relationship with Cibrian, engage in a battle with Glanville and to strike back at critics who attack her ever diminishing figure.

We’ve seen on a national level what happens to business owners who get divorced, like Frank and Jamie McCourt who are currently in a battle for ownership over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The messy dividing of business assets can be lengthy, brutal and costly. Women business owners seeking divorce advice in Pasadena often wonder what they should have done to protect their business from winding up in the hands of their ex. Jeff Landers of Forbes.com says there are a number of things business owners can do to protect themselves long before they visits a lawyer’s office.

In a new blog, Divorce Dollars & Sense, Landers dishes out financial advice for the divorced and divorcing. But recently, Landers made headlines for giving tips to women who are happily married.

"It may seem strange to think about divorce while you’re still single or happily married,” he writes. “But, as a woman business owner, divorce-proofing your business should be an important part of your financial plan, even if you never need to use it.”

Landers points out that protective measures for businesses need to be put into place “long before divorce is a possibility.” Like family attorneys in Pasadena, Landers believes in prenuptial agreements, especially for women who have worked hard to grow their own business.

“By using a prenuptial agreement, both parties can decide in advanced what property will be considered separate property and what property will be considered marital property and how that marital property should be divided,” he notes.

Landers admits these agreements can be awkward, unromantic and even contested in court. Domestic or foreign asset protection trusts and post-nuptial agreements are other alternatives to prenups, Landers says. Regardless of how you do it, Landers says divorce-proofing your business is a smart way to protect yourself.

“Consider this as a type of insurance policy, similar to your homeowner’s insurance — you hope you never have to use it, but you feel secure having it," he adds. "And, if that storm ever blows through and levels your house, you’ll be really glad that you have it!”

A client’s safety is something thatdivorce attorneys in Pasadena take very seriously. In cases involving an unstable ex, great caution is taken to ensure the safety of everyone in the courtroom. But sometimes people just snap. Paul Henry Gonzalez Jr., a 28-year-old ex-Marine, was arrested this week for brutally beating his estranged wife in front of a judge during the middle of divorce hearing in Florida.

It took a stun gun and several court officers to subdue Gonzalez after he choked Catherine Ann Scott-Gonzalez while hitting her face.

“He was punching with a true vengeance," Scott-Gonzalez's attorney said. "It was vicious.”

Scott-Gonzalez was rushed to the emergency room with a broken nose, broken bones in her face, and a torn lip, according to her boyfriend, Brennan Worsencroft. Reportedly, Mr. Gonzalez flew into a rage because he was ordered to pay child support. Jude Ronald Rothschild ordered Gonzales to pay child support and set visitation rights for the couple’s 1-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.

Witnesses say Gonzales left the judge’s chambers but returned and began screaming at his wife and the judge. Gonzales then began violently punching his wife while he strangled her. New police reports note that Scott-Gonzalez's attorney jumped in and held Gonzales in a bear hug until authorities arrived. When the police did arrive, Gonzales fought them off until his rampage was ended by shots from a stun gun.

As Gonzalez was pulled out of the chambers by police, his ex-wife had collapsed in a pool of blood near the judge’s chair.

"It was surreal," Scott-Gonzalez's attorney said. "To see that violence play out in a judge's chambers is somewhat surreal."

Catherine Scott-Gonzalez says she had tried to get a restraining order against her ex but couldn’t persuade the court to give her one. Paul Gonzalez is currently jailed on a felony battery charge with a $1 million bond.

Divorce lawyers in Pasadena know that whatever happens online is guaranteed not to stay online. In fact, online discrepancies are just the things attorneys are searching for in modern divorce cases. Pictures posted on Facebook, telling Twitter posts, and blogs posted by exes can blow a divorce case wide open. This is a cold, hard truth that Dorothy McGurk found out firsthand.

McGurk, a former legal secretary from New York, claimed that she was disabled and she was awarded $850 a month for life in a divorce settlement three years ago. McGurk convinced the court that a 1997 car accident left her too injured to work. She was also awarded the couple’s home in Staten Island. Her ex-husband, Brian McGurk, went back to court last month after he stumbled upon a blog in which Dorothy claimed she had been dancing “everyday for three years.” A big proponent of the belly dancing movement, she blogged frequently about her love for the exercise form.

"Today I decided to dedicate myself more to my dance," she wrote. "Even though I dance everyday, it's not enough. It won't be enough until I dance for you all, until you feel my euphoria.” In another post, she wrote “Today as I danced myself silly, I lifted my head and elongated my neck as I swirled around and then it happened I got really high."

Not exactly the words of a disabled woman, right? Richmond County Supreme Court Judge Catherine DiDomenico didn’t think so, either. Judge DiDomenico stripped McGurk of her monthly settlement and ordered her to pay husband $5,000 plus lawyers’ fees and interest. McGurk was also ordered to move out of her house. Brian was awarded 60 percent of the home’s value because Dorothy “worked only two years of this 11-year marriage,” the judge wrote in her decision.

Divorce attorneys in Pasadena and connoisseurs of Internet oddities have seen YouTube used creatively during or after divorces. We’ve seen angry exes talk trash about their former spouses in videos. We’ve watched ex-wives sell their husbands' things in garage sale videos. Now a divorced Irish woman is making headlines and going viral as she tries to sell her house on YouTube.

Jillian Godsil, a divorced mother of two, has taken to YouTube to help her out of a post-breakup financial bind. Godsil has put a video of her eight-bedroom country home on the popular Internet video site in hopes of being able to put the past behind her. She says she has received several emails from people wishing her well, all while the video has gathered over 2500 views.

"Divorce and losing the family home, which was my dream home, is very tough, so it's nice to know people are behind me and my two kids. But emails that are looking to view the house will be even nicer,” Godsil says.

The home, known as Raheengraney House, was supposed to be a happily ever after for Godsil, her children and husband. Located in the quaint village of Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow, the house has three bedrooms and two acres of land. A slumping economy, bad financial decisions and a divorce has forced Godsil to sell the property for a value under what she paid for it. Despite the reasonable price, Godsil has had a difficult time getting interest in the property. After several offers fell through, she decided to put her house online.

"So I asked myself, 'how will I sell this?' and the idea of trying to get it all over the Internet came into my mind," she says.

In addition to getting thousands of views online, Godsil’s unique approach has received international attention and the home reportedly now has several interested potential buyers.

Divorce attorneys in Pasadena could have given Simon Cowell some free advice: Stay away from people who want you to get involved in their divorce. American Idol sourpuss and X Factor head honcho Simon Cowell launched a legal defensive this week after “scandalous allegations” surfaced that he is involved in helping a tycoon friend hide 2 billion pounds from his estranged wife.

The bombshell allegation rocked England in the middle of a four-day hearing. Michelle Young, a former model, is accusing her husband Scot of using wealthy friends and associates like Cowell to hide his multi-million-pound assets. The judge in the case so far isn’t buying Michelle Young’s claims. In his preliminary view of the case, he said there was “not a scrap of evidence” against Cowell. Nevertheless, the court is taking the allegations very seriously. Mrs. Young is claiming she and her daughters are destitute. In addition to Cowell, the 47-year-old former model named tycoon Sir Phillip Green, restaurateur Richard Caring and Boris Berezovsky as associates who helped Mr. Young conceal his fortune. Mr. Young says he lost his fortune due to a series of failed property deals. He called his wife a “fantasist” and says he cannot pay additional support.

For his part, Cowell sent in Britain’s top gun defamation lawyers who refuted Mrs. Young’s allegations as “completely without foundation.” Attorney Matthew Nicklin appeared for Cowell at the hearing and said, “'As a result of the privilege attaching to reports of court proceedings and the immunity Mrs. Young enjoys for what she says as a witness in the witness box, Mr. Cowell has absolutely no redress against the republication of her allegations. They are scandalous. I am here today to make it clear that Mr. Cowell categorically refutes the claims made against him by Mrs. Young.”

Family attorneys in Pasadena have often seen divorced couples change their initial custody agreements for a variety of reasons. Oftentimes an agreement that seemed like it would be beneficial for both parties has to be reevaluated and redesigned to accommodate the changing needs of a child. Other times, ex-spouses return to court because their initial custody agreements have been violated. Actress, comedian and author Roseanne Barr is saying that is exactly why she returned to court last week.

Barr headed back to court after her ex-husband, Ben Thomas filed, documents which claimed Roseanne was violating the custody agreement by not covering travel expenses for Thomas and his new wife to visit his and Roseanne's son. According to Thomas, when Roseanne decided to move to Hawaii, she promised to fly Ben and his wife to Hawaii for 10 days every month with all expenses paid. Thomas says the deal went sour when Roseanne put a kibosh on paying for the couple’s travel costs. In an email to Ben, Roseanne says, “I decided I’m no longer interested in abiding by this ridiculous arrangement.” Furthermore, Roseanne allegedly told Ben if he indeed wanted to see their son he could “buy himself a ticket and book a room.”

Roseanne, however, says Ben violated a confidentiality agreement when he filed in October. His court paperwork, according to the star, included personal emails complete with her email address. Roseanne fired back with a civil lawsuit in January against Thomas, stating he “ignored the confidentiality provision which he was unquestionably bound by and revealed his self-serving attitude and wanton disregard for Plaintiff’s privacy.”

Decisions in both cases are expected to be reached by the end of the month and Roseanne is now currently seeking full custody of Buck.

Divorce attorneys in Pasadena have seen some dramatic and complicated divorces over the years, but the ongoing saga of Jermaine Jackson and estranged ex-wife Alejandra Jackson must be one of the craziest to come out of tinsel town in quite some time. From a hefty amount of back child support to a battle over where Alejandra would live, the case continues to get stranger every day.

Alejandra Oaziaza Jackson originally was the girlfriend of Jermaine’s brother Randy, with whom she had 2 kids in the early 1990s. But when that relationship fizzled, Alejandra married Jermaine and they in turn had three children together. That relationship went sour in 2004, yet Alejandra continued to live on the Jackson family compound with her children. After months of legal battles and threats of eviction, Alejandra Jackson agreed to move out last week after papers were filed in a Los Angeles courthouse.

Until recently, Alejandra reportedly was refusing to move even after being offered a fully-furnished condo by the Jackson family. RadarOnline reported Alejandra was offered the condo by Katherine Jackson to keep her from publishing a tell-all book.

Even though Alejandra may be out of the Jackson home soon, she won't be out of Jermaine’s life for quite some time. Jermaine was ordered to pay $80,000 in back child support to Alejandra last month. Jermaine claims the amount was too high and that he is currently unemployed. Bids to lowers his child support payments were denied by the court. Alejandra Jackson, who is also unemployed, told RadarOnline, “People think that I don’t work but being a mom of 5 kids, that alone is work. I want this to be done so I can move on with my life.”

Family law attorneys in Pasadena increasingly see information garnered from online social networking sites used as evidence in court. Social networking sites help people connect, but they also have a way of making people’s lives a matter of semi-public record like never before.

For example, let’s say a husband buys a new girlfriend an expensive gift and announces the purchase on Twitter. In court, he may be found to be dispersing marital assets to a third party. Or a wife may try to prove to the court that she is not capable of getting a job, but she may be found pursuing job interviews on LinkedIn, calling her truthfulness into question.

Divorce lawyers are always looking for evidence that might prove advantageous to their clients’ cases, and these days, sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are providing just such an advantage. One lawyer advises clients to screen their social networking pages for anything that could be incriminating while, at the same time, he studies the ex’s pages with a fine-toothed comb. Another lawyer notes that it has become routine to review a client’s web presence — along with that of the ex.

In another example, a mother assured the court that she hadn’t been drinking, but one of her social networking pages showed dated photos of her drinking and smoking. This was used in court to cast doubt on her truthfulness.

Sometimes, a divorcing couple’s children can be affected by the social networking pages of their parents, causing conflict with family law courts. Courts often attempt to stop parents from being disparaging about one another to their children by issuing restraining orders. On the one hand, this is a First Amendment issue because it calls into question whether Internet speech can be blocked. At the same time, it is nearly impossible to stop a child from accessing such information. Some cases have seen harassment campaigns by an ex-spouse on a social networking site that resulted in the issuing of a civil order of protection.

For better or for worse, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are playing a key role in family law courts.

“Should’ve had a prenup” is one of those phrases often heard by folks seeking divorce advice in Pasadena. Now British divorce lawyers are raining on the media parade of the upcoming wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton by warning the prince that he should get a prenup before it’s too late.

As royal watchers know, the prince and Middleton are set to get hitched April 29, but the UK’s top divorce experts are saying they hope William will make a visit to his lawyer’s office before he walks down the aisle.

“It's an absolute statistical no-brainer that a prenuptial agreement would be highly beneficial in this case," said divorce lawyer James Stewart from the firm Manches, the law firm that handled the headline-making divorce between pop star Madonna and director Guy Ritchie.

Stewart and others are quick to point to William’s family history with divorce. Most notably his mother, the late Princess Diana, and his father, Prince Charles, divorced in 1996. The very public and ugly divorce was financially devastating to the Prince Charles, who reportedly gave Diana his entire personal fortune valued at more than 17 million pounds. Three out of four of Queen Elizabeth II’s children have been divorced. Diana’s brother and William’s uncle Charles Spencer has two ex-wives.

Prenuptial agreements have been common in the United States for decades but remain rare for most British couples. Stewart says the English, including the royal family, need to look at the reality of increasing divorce rates and make the necessary financial arrangements.

"In the 21st century, there is a real need for any couple in the public arena to enter into a properly drawn up prenup," Stewart adds.

Prince William’s office has declined to comment on whether the couple has signed a prenuptial agreement.

Broken families, divorces and separations were once the problems of big city Americans. Divorce attorneys in Pasadena and in other large cities across the country have long been accustomed to a growing local divorce rate as the population continues to grow. New reports, however, are saying that divorce has exploded in rural parts of the country once synonymous with old-fashioned family values. Experts attribute the dramatic increase in divorce to a rapidly-changing economic environment, new opportunities for women and new challenges for the rural family.

The New York Times reported last week that Sioux County, Iowa, has seen a sevenfold increase in divorce rates since 1970, according to census data. But divorce isn’t only rising in Iowa: Other rural areas have seen a huge jump, too. Divorced folks populated cities and suburbs forty years ago, but “geographic distinctions have all but vanished and now for the first time, rural American are just as likely to be divorced as city dwellers," according to the Times analysis.

While small rural towns still exist, the families who live there have changed, sociology professor at Cornell University Daniel T. Licther tells the Times.

“Rural families are going through this incredible transformation,” he says.

Some of those changes include women entering the workforce and gaining independence and loosening of the stigma of divorce. Women in the region are now following the lead of their big city counterparts by getting an education and leaving blue-collar marriages.

Mariua Kelfalas, an author and professor at St. Joesph’s University, says families in rural America are in the midst of experiencing a culture shock when it comes to divorce.

“The cultural narrative about marriage — you get a job, you marry your sweetheart, you buy a house, you educate your kids — has been torn to shreds," she says. "Without that economic foundation, the story cannot support itself."

Poverty, men losing their jobs and couples married too young are also pointed out as potential causes for the increase in rural divorce.

Ask anydivorce attorney in Pasadena and they’ll tell you that retaliating against your ex is never a good idea. For further proof, let’s look at the bizarre case of Shawn Robyn Gawronski. Gawronski was arrested last week for setting fire to his ex-wife’s beauty salon in Missoula, Montana. Even crazier is that the 33-year-old Gawronski recently told Missoula County sheriff’s detectives that he used his divorce papers to start the fire.

According to the affidavit filed by Missoula County Deputy Attorney Patricia Bower, while the Gifted Hands Salon was burning, Shawn Gawronski sat in his truck with a gun in his hands as sheriff’s deputies arrived early in the morning on Monday, March 21.

"The court finds you to be a threat to both the victim and the community," Missoula County Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech said on Tuesday. She also set Gawronski’s bail at $200,000, double the amount Bower requested. Not content with setting the fire, Gawronski also admitted to slashing the tires on the vehicles belonging to his mother-in-law, his sister-in-law and her boyfriend. After an outburst from Gawronski’s brother in the courtroom, Orzech set a higher bail and ordered Gawronski to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Officers who arrived at the scene of the fire searched Gawronski’s truck with his permission and found a Browning 9mm handgun, a near empty matchbook, a plastic milk container containing what authorities say looked and smelled like gasoline, a razor blade knife and two pairs of gloves. Once inside the salon, deputies found Gawronski’s divorce papers on a couch. According to the deputies, he doused the salon floor in gasoline but had trouble getting lit so he used his divorce papers and some mail to start the blaze.

"He returned to his truck and watched the fire burn. ... Shawn said he did not want to hurt anyone and was just very angry at his wife," the affidavit said.

Gawronski’s estranged wife Jennifer Warner appeared in court but declined to comment after the proceedings. If charged with arson, he could face up 20 years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine. Gawronski’s next court appearance will take place on April 6.

Some marriages, as family attorneys in Pasadena know all too well, are over before they even begin. Twenty-three-year-old Aisha Noor was shocked to travel all the way from her native Pakistan to meet her new husband in Toronto only to have him tell her he cancelled her sponsorship for residency. The spat between husband and wife has now turned into an international incident, as Noor was forced to return home to Pakistan last week.

Noor and Owais Qurni were wed via an arranged marriage in Peshwar, Pakistan, in 2009, yet the marriage was never consummated. Qurni says he told Noor not to come to Canada before she arrived on March 4 because he felt they had no chemistry. He reportedly told her several times that he wanted a divorce.

“I decided to back off from this wedding before it was too late and both our lives were further ruined," he wrote in an email to CBC News.

Furthermore, he says he had made arrangements with Noor’s father last month to cancel her sponsorship and that he had no idea she was coming to Canada.

"I did not find out that she had landed in Canada until an immigration official contacted me on the phone and confirmed my cancellation of sponsorship, which I confirmed," he wrote. "It was after that that Miss Aisha Noor decided to call me from the airport and asked me to pick her up. This was shocking for me because I advised her against coming because I was not willing to go ahead with preparations anymore."

Noor, naturally, has a different story. She claims she was romanced by Qurni via e-mail and video chat and that he was anxious for her to arrive. She says she believes he’s withdrawing his sponsorship because her family refused to give him a large sum of money. (Qurni calls those allegations “completely false.”) Noor also claims her Pashtun culture in Pakistan will stigmatize her if she returns to the country divorced. The couple never met face-to-face in Canada and Noor was scheduled to return to Pakistan on Monday.

Divorce attorneys in Pasadena have seen all kinds of people in powerful jobs leave their relationships to devote more time to their careers, but we’ve never seen anyone as ambitious as Sandra Torres de Colom. Torres de Colom is reportedly leaving her husband and current president of Guatemala Alvaro Colom so she can run for president. The couple has people wondering worldwide... are they breaking up because they are no longer in love or is the divorce a power play move to keep the Colom family in office?

Torres threw her hat in ring for president on March 9 despite being brow beaten by critics who say she is ineligible to run for presidency due to a constitutional article that bars relatives of the president from seeking the position. In what some are claiming was a counter-move, Torres and Alvaro then filed for divorce on March 11 according to Guatemalan family court judge Mildred Roca. The president and the first lady stated the divorce petition was a “mutual agreement” meaning no lengthy judicial hearings will be needed, Roca told CNN.

Opponents of the couple and their political party are calling the divorce a fraud, saying the pair are bending the laws for their own political gain. Others say the action is turning the marriage into a joke.

“As public figures, they should set an example, and the worst part is that they are taking these actions only for the possibility of a candidacy," Constitutional lawyer Carlos Molina Mencos said in an interview with Guatemalan newspaperPrensa Libra. "This means that if they win they can reunite, or if not, they can also reunite. This is a mockery."

Supporters of the president and first lady, however, are applauding the effort.

"They were in a situation that was difficult, but for the good of the nation," said Jaime Martinez, general secretary of the Grand National Alliance party in Guatemala. "They are doing it for national interests and not personal interests. They are making a sacrifice."