“You-Tube” Divorce Waiting for Judgment
Tricia Walsh-Smith and her millionaire husband Philip will have to wait until July 21st to hear if the judge in the case will grant a divorce based on claims that she was cruel and inhumane. Philip claims his wife humiliated him after she announced to the world they had a sexless marriage a few months ago on You-Tube (which has had over 3 million hits). The judge will also decide whether the prenuptial agreement can be altered, and whether or not Ms. Smith will have to find a new home.
At one point on the stand, Walsh-Smith referred to herself as “Cinderella.” Mr. Smith, on the other hand, testified her spending was out of control, along with her love of $600 shoes. The couple, married since 1999, began to disagree after Walsh-Smith decided she needed more of an allowance and wanted to alter the pre-nup. At that point, Philip Smith decided to ask for a divorce leading to Walsh-Smith creating her You-Tube video.
The video, not surprisingly, was a really, really bad idea. It became the prime piece of evidence regarding Mr. Smith’s allegations that Tricia was cruel and inhumane. New York is still a fault state regarding divorces, so instead of citing “irreconcilable differences,” in New York, you have to actually present evidence that you should be granted a divorce based on the behavior of the other party. That can be unfortunate because it forces parties to be adversarial, even if both parties want the divorce. Here in Georgia divorcing couples have the option of choosing a no-fault claim for divorce and avoid slinging mud or videos.
One Response to ““You-Tube” Divorce Waiting for Judgment”
By Dianne on Jul 17, 2008
This is a pretty accurate post except Tricia wasn’t asking for a bigger allowance, and the reason for the change in the prenup she requested is omitted. Her request was to cover her if he became incapacitated (she was covered if he died but not if he lingered without his wits about him). It doesn’t seem too unreasonable… but his response was to try to evict her from their home while she was in London on a philanthropic mission. Seems perhaps he’d already lost his wits!
The oddest thing about NY law, besides being among the last (if not the last) grounds-required state, is that Philip was actually able to introduce those videos as grounds even though they were a 6-months-later reaction to his October filing and March service, that later of which started the eviction process. NY really needs some reform!