Thursday, June 21, 2007

In Re Marriage of Williams (Cal. Ct. App. - May 17, 2007)

"In this marital dissolution action, appellant Thomas Williams and respondent Hilary Williams dispute the amount of child support that Thomas should pay for their two children. Both parties are wealthy and unemployed. . . . The trial court ruled that Thomas’s earning capacity should include attribution of a reasonable return on approximately $14 million in investments (including home equity of $6 million in his Pebble Beach estate) . . . . In 1995, Thomas sold his company, Combinet, to Cisco Systems, Inc. and received Cisco shares valued between $65 million and $85 million. The parties subsequently acquired substantial real property, including buying and remodeling a 5,400 square foot house in Monte Sereno as well as an 11,000 square foot house on the Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. . . . During the marriage, the children lived in their own wing in the Monte Sereno house and also spent weekends in the Pebble Beach mansion . . . 'a large palatial estate' set on nearly three acres on the Seventeen Mile Drive."


Tough lives.