Chris Rock's paternity attorney and David Justice's Atlanta divorce lawyer --which are one and the same -- weighed in today on the separation between Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver, of the Kennedy clan. John Mayoue says that Maria Shriver should win big against the "Terminator" if the divorce ever makes its way into court, at least on financial terms.
"It seems to me that he has gratuitously embarrassed her. This should greatly enhance settlement negotiations," Mayoue said.
Settlement negotiations ended well for Mayoue's client Chris Rock, when Rock was faced with a paternity suit from a woman living in Georgia. DNA testing proved the child was not Rocks, a fact he had claimed all along, according to Fox News.
But that's not the case with Arnold, who has acknowledged his paternity in the love child born from an affair that occurred more than a decade ago with Mildred "Patty" Baena, his and Maria's housekeeper and personal assistant.
But Arnold's legal responsibilities to Patty are limited to child support; his legal responsibilities to Maria, however, include the potential for spousal support as well, since Maria devoted her life to Arnold and their children at the expense of her high-profile position with NBC as a journalist.
California's no-fault divorce effectively eliminates sexual infidelity from being a consideration in a divorce case, minus a prenup, so the parties would part ways in a 50-50 split, financially, regardless of Arnold's extramarital affair.
Maria would, then, receive child support over and above the distribution of assets, in addition to a likely large spousal amount each month. But with Arnold veering back into his film career, where he made his personal fortune, Maria could stand to get even more.
But the "Terminator" has effectively blocked that liability, having released a statement today through a representative that he will not be returning to his acting roles until he resolves his family situation.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger is focusing on personal matters and is not willing to commit to any production schedules or time lines. This includes "Cry Macho," the terminator franchise and other projects under consideration," the LA Times reported.
Arnold could be ditching additional monies and fame for family, planning to use the days ahead to win his war against divorce and woo Maria back. His famous like "I'll be back" seems to support his object to that end. But Schwarzenegger has also proven to be able to successfully hide a decade old affair and child from the press and his wife during the height of his fame and political life.
This, essentially, makes it questionable whether the recent press release by Arnold -- proclaiming his refusal to return to work on films out of a desire to repair his damaged family -- is motivated out of a belated concern for Maria and children or serious concern that she not get any anticipated assests from his new endeavors?
Thus the potential for a high-profile divorce case like this to garner judge sympathy for Maria isn't uncommon in a court of law in California, Georgia or anywhere else, as Mayoue points out.
If Maria does make it into court, it is likely a judge will consider whether Schwarzenegger was attempting to thwart additional assests from being included in the settlement or actually work on his marriage by his recent press release.
When Mayoue represented Georgia's Atlanta Brave baseball star David Justice in his divorce from Halle Berry, terms of the divorce were kept from the public, according to the NY Times, which could very well happen in the end for Arnold and Maria, if they do move into that direction.
Arnold has gone to great lengths to keep his affair and illegitimate child private. It is likely he would seek to have the divorce documents kept that way as well. Mayoue was able to work that out for his Georgia baseball star client David Justice, so that should be doable for Maria and Arnold. But maintaining court document privacy isn't the main priority of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver at present. For Maria, it boils down to privacy for her and the children. And Arnold, well, it is highly likely that Arnold just wants to "be back."
Sources: MSN, LA Times
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