Prenuptial Resulted in No Control & No Money

This is a true case, the names and personal details of the real people were changed to respect their privacy.

Judy, a young Israeli, met her “true love” – Mark, an American living in Israel since he was a child. Judy was 23 and Mark was 30.

In fact, Mark was Judy’s employer in the food business he had and after a romance of less than a year they decided to get married. Mark presented her with a seven-page pre-nuptial agreement with many clauses favoring Judy in case of a divorce.

Judy didn’t have a lawyer representing her but she trusted her family who “advised” her on this issue. They claimed the agreement was fair for her. What a mistake. Judy, who was single before the marriage, took upon herself two children from Mark’s previous marriage, ages 10,12 – it wasn’t easy but she managed to raise the kids and devoted all her time to the new family. Together they had a child, today five years old.

Mark, a successful business man for years, understood the Israeli system and he knew how to be “safe” and out of trouble. Just in case, Mark had not only a good lawyer and good accountant but also, as Judy would find later, a master plan in case of necessity. Judy wasn’t included in these plans.

In the meantime, Judy stopped working and took care of the house, children’s education, cars, etc., but never the finances. Whatever she needed was provided to her. Together the family kept a high standard of living, each had a nice new car and Mark even bought Judy some very “expensive” pieces of jewelry.

They never bought any property and the cars were leased. Judy kept asking why and Mark had all the answers ready for her (and they were actually very good explanations). Mark promised Judy that if anything happened to him, she would be provided for by one large property he had bought for her in a good location worth almost 2 million dollars.

Everyone was happy and business was “hopping” until the day the world depression started to affect the market and even the fast food business where Mark had most of his business and investments.

Things went from one extreme to the other and finally Mark decided it was the right time. Ten years had passed and his children were mature enough. The time to escape was perfect. The time to use the “plans” had arrived.

One morning he left Judy with a warm kiss claiming he had a very short business trip to New York. It is six months later and Judy is not waiting any longer.

Judy found herself in a legal battle with the banks. She had to return the fancy car and the bank took the other one from Mark’s garage. She now uses public transportation. She tried to sell the jewelry but the market value she got was not $ 50,000 as Mark had claimed they were worth only $10,000. She paid the bank with the amount she received for all the jewelry but still owes them more than $ 15,000 in overdraft. This overdraft was a result of Mark’s withdrawals in cash a few days before he left. Judy was in despair and in need of cash. She decided to take action and sell the property, knowing she would lose a large amount of money because of the low prices in real estate. Judy found out very fast the “plan” Mark had in mind. The property wasn`t under Judy`s name but under a company name. Judy knew about the company and she had one third of the company stocks but no voting rights in the company. She actually owned a third of nothing.

A few days after Mark left, he ordered the other partner (they needed only two signatures) to sell the property and buy a new one under another company (recently created for this purpose). Now Judy had one third of a company empty of cash or property. She was left with nothing.

Mark’s lawyer contacted Judy and offered her a few thousand dollars for her and the child in return for a quick “Get”. He was not returning to Israel. Judy had two options: Receive less than $40,000 for what was supposed to be worth a few hundred thousand dollars or receive nothing and struggle to survive – her and her five year old child.

Judy contacted me but she can’t provide much information. She doesn’t know where Mark is living and she does not have a clue where or how all the money “evaporated”. She has very little left and not enough resources to pay lawyers, detectives, court fees, etc.

We decided to take the case hoping we would be able to win a better deal for her, but we may be wrong.

Judy learned the hard way the price for not having control and being blinded from the comfortable life she had all those years. It will take her double that time to re-build herself and her child’s lives.

Sincerely,

Tzvi Szajnbrum, Attorney at Law