How do you split $8 million in bling? Painstakingly!
Tags: Bill Flaherty, Jeff Fisher, Joel Weissman, Jose Lambiet's Page2Live, Judge Diana Lewis, Palm Beach County circuit court, Tina Flaherty
| Sunday 31 January 2010 9:25 am
Tina and Bill at Mar-a-Lago in 2006
Unusual hearing in a Palm Beach County circuit court Monday.
Judge Diana Lewis will spend most of the day dividing up $8 million in jewelry amongst divorced society stalwarts Bill and Tina Flaherty.
The treasure trove includes a $500,000-diamond-and-emerald necklace.
Tina, 70, is also well known in corporate America for punching through the glass ceilings of blue-chip companies in the 1960s and taking over Colgate-Palmolive.
Bill, 76, is an industrialist who once gave $1.5 million to West Palm Beach’s St. Marys Medical Center and another $1.5 million to the Palm Beach Zoo.
He filed for divorce in April 2007 after 33 years of marital bliss, or hell, depending who’s talking.
But while the divorce became final a year and a half later, the division of marital property continues.
So far, the Flahertys split evenly $150 million in homes and stocks and bonds.
But when it came to the bling, things haven’t gone so smoothly. So Lewis is forced to play Solomon.
For more on the bling, and the poll, look below or click
“There’s such a difference in opinion between his and her appraisers that there is no choice,” said Jeff Fisher, who reps the lady.
Bill may end up getting back a lot of the stuff he bought Tina for things like their 25th wedding anniversary and her 50th birthday.
“She’s pretty upset that Bill wants to sell eventually jewelry he gave her,” Fisher said.
Said Joel Weissman, who represented Bill: “In Florida, the gift you purchase a spouse is considered marital property. It can be split 50-50 in a divorce.”
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Take it from someone who knows - JOEL WEISSMAN is the BEST Of the BEST!!!
Anything given as a gift should be left with the recipient. If the recipient wants no memory of the giver, sell it all and donate the proceeds to a worthy organization. If the giver wants no memories of the recipient, fugettaboutit and move on. You gave it as a gift. CHEERS!
Since judge Diana Lewis used to represent St. Mary’s Medical Center with the law firm of Carlton Fields.It’s no surprise that she would sit on a case for a large donor of the same hospital.Maybe she can fix some more cases for herself and her Daddy Senator Phil Lewis while she’s at it.She has such a nice retirement package going on for herself.
Do these people have any realization that they aren’t going to take any of this with them, when they breathe their final breath? That day is coming, so why don’t they just get on with their lives? This is a perfect example of financial bondage, and two enslaved people…
this is a perfect example of the florida court system, i would be willing to bet the legal fees on both sides for the jewelry is millions itself,
This is news, why?
Very interesting Society Story Jose.
I guess diamonds aren’t forever.
Note to self, ’send flowers’
What a lovely lady, she doesn’t need the ornamentation.
This is so sad! I am married 37 years- it’s traumatic & you joke-no it’s sad. These are people not spreadsheets. These are people in reality, near the golden times…now they have to reconstruct happiness & trust.Sad.
OMG< Divorce after 37 years? R you kidding move on and work it out. to divide the family after ALL this is nuts!
Palm Beach County Family Court Judge Diana Lewis is sitting on another case (Flaherty v. Flaherty) in which she does not disclose conflicts of interest.See 4th DCA opinion (Schlesinger)on Diana Lewis for not recusing herself from a case involving St. Mary’s Hospital because she represented them in negligence/malpractice cases and refused to recuse herself.How this case just ended up on her desk is no mistake or mystery.It was set up that way.I hope that Ms. Flaherty doesn’t find out that she was set up by Mr. Flaherty.It looks like Mr. Joel Weissman of Weissman P.A,Mr.Jeffery Fisher of the law firm of Fisher and Bendeck,Ms. Judge Diana Lewis,and Mr. Flaherty have got some explaining to do.It was fixed from the start just like everything else Diana Lewis does in the courthouse.A serial corrupted case fixer with Scott Rothsteins and former Judge Berger’s money in her campaign account.These cases just don’t appear out of nowhere and land in the right spot by themselves.They are put there for a reason.To be fixed.Money does really buy justice in Corruption County.You are witnessing it first hand.
The WORST of the WORST regarding CORRUPTION and CRIMINAL ACTS is WEISS & HANDLER…
These are corrupt atty’s… They rob, lie and steal from there clients. (see Kasman v. Kasman)
Mrs. Kasman is filing BAR COMPLAINTS and MALPRACTICE against Handler, Kartagener & CPA Kridel…
The Den of Thieves Lives On ………….Good Luck