Sample of Cases Involving Divorce
Sample Divorce Cases Handled by David Wilkinson
David has more than a decade of litigation experience in family law matters, including divorce. He has handled the simplest divorce cases by providing hourly consulting services and where he acted to simply draft the appropriate documents. He has also served as a private mediator for many divorce cases wherein he assists parties in identifying and negotiating all the issues in their case (including issues such as custody, visitation, spousal support, child support, division of assets and debts, title issues, and so forth).
David also previously served as a settlement judge and assisted parties to divorce cases resolve their disputes at court. He served for many years as a judge pro tem for this purpose, during which time he received accolades for his service to the community. He also gained valuable experience in learning how to deal with difficult litigants and attorneys in high-conflict divorce matters.
As a result of his years of experience, David can describe many interesting and notable divorce cases. Here are several such cases:
In a matter involving a crooked Husband and deadbeat father, David represented the Wife throughout the entire case including trial. The Husband refused to disclose his assets and income for a significant period of time, avoided discovery demands, provided false information to the court, and failed to pay the proper amount of child support for his children. He was also the owner of a bar/club that was a popular venue in a famous location, for which he neglected to provide any relevant information during the divorce case. Husband sought spousal support from the Wife because she earned a significant income through her employment. After significant preparation, Mr. Wilkinson was able to elicit testimony from a number of witnesses that testified as to Husband’s crooked and lying ways. He showed the court that the Husband was untrustworthy in all respects. Ultimately, the court imputed a significant income to the Husband, denied his request for support, ordered him to pay a significant sum of money to Wife for the assets that he claimed he didn’t own, sanctioned Husband to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, and the court refused to grant the Husband any relief he sought at trial.
In a case involving a marriage in which the Husband and Wife had been married for over ten years but then separated for over twenty-five years, David and his associate represented the Husband during a trial to determine the date in which the parties’ separated from each other. This date is important because the court treats the financial interests of the parties differently depending upon the length of marriage. Husband argued that the parties’ separated over twenty five years earlier and the Wife argued that the parties only recently separated. While the trial was progressing, Mr. Wilkinson and the opposing counsel remained open to negotiation to try and resolve the case without relying on the court to ultimately make a decision, which one party would certainly not be happy. These negotiations resulted in a complete resolution on all issues right in the middle of the trial.
In a recent Plymouth County case that went to trial, David represented a wife married to her husband for more than twenty years. The husband had abused the wife during the marriage, verbally, mentally and emotionally. The wife earned over 4 times what the husband earned and the husband was seeking alimony from the wife. During trial, David produced testimony from witnesses that saw the abuse over many years, provided testimony that contradicted what the husband was claiming, and provided some information as to husband’s ability to work, which allowed the court to attribute income to husband even though he was receiving disability. The judge provided a thirteen page written judgment in the case, ordering that David’s client was not obligated to pay any alimony whatsoever, and for the husband to sell most of his belongings and provide the sale proceeds to the wife.
David represented a retired fire chief in a divorce case involving complicated issues of division of retirement and pension accounts and interests and the division of real property. Mr. Wilkinson and Wife’s attorney sat down together at the outset of the case to outline the issues and obtained the necessary and appropriate documentation so that all parties were completely informed. A complete and formal settlement agreement was reached by the parties only several weeks after the filing of the divorce complaint, saving parties months or years of litigation and thousands of dollars in attorney fees.
In a case involving the partnership of two same-sex parties, Mr. Wilkinson was able to file a series of aggressive motions immediately after the inception of the filing of the petition. At the first hearing, Mr. Wilkinson was able to significantly out-perform the opposing counsel and the court entered extremely favorable orders for Mr. Wilkinson’s client, which set the tone for the case and enabled the parties to reach a complete agreement.
Mr. Wilkinson represented a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the drafting and execution of his premarital agreement before he married Wife. Unfortunately, after several years it was clear the marriage was not going to work out. Accordingly, Mr. Wilkinson filed a petition on behalf of the CPA Husband to terminate the parties’ marital relationship and cited the terms of the premarital agreement as controlling the issues of division of assets and spousal support. The Wife was found and served in the State of New York, but she did not timely file a response. Mr. Wilkinson filed a motion to proceed by “default” (i.e. without the Wife’s participation in the case) and ultimately Husband was granted the divorce and everything he requested.
In one of the more complex matters, Mr. Wilkinson represented the Wife in an extremely litigious divorce case involving child custody, child and spousal support, international evidence issues, division of assets including several businesses located in the United States and in Mexico, real property including a high value commercial property, and the most devious party and attorney on the other side of the case. After years of dealing with the lying, manipulative and deceptive acts of the opposing party and countless hearings and weeks of trial, ultimately Mr. Wilkinson secured orders that directed all property owned by the parties to be awarded to the Wife, along with sanctions and other penalties against the Husband.
The above cases are a small sample of the cases handled by Mr. Wilkinson. To request a private, initial consultation with Mr. Wilkinson in Boston or downtown New Bedford, please call our office today or send us an email. You will be able to share your situation with Mr. Wilkinson and he will be able to provide you with some insight as to his experience with the issues involved in your case and provide you with options. Contact us today.