KELSEY GRAMMER BIFURCATION OF MARITAL STATUS LIKELY TO BE GRANTED

In December, 2010, Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, Cheers, Kelsey Grammer Presents The Sketch Show, etc.) filed a Motion to bifurcate and sever the issue of Marital Status in his divorce from his wife, Camille Grammer (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), and to reserve the balance of issues in the divorce to be heard and ruled on at a later date.

Married to Camille for 13 years, Kelsey reportedly wants to bifurcate his divorce to enable him to marry his fiancee', Kayte Walsh on February 25, 2011, having announced his wedding plans on David Letterman's Late Night Show on January 13.

Kelsey joined various pension and retirement plans as parties to the divorce to meet statutory conditions as required to protect Camille's interest in those plans pending Further Hearing on Reserved Issues.

Camille, however, opposed the bifurcation, claiming that her pension expert wasn't given the opportunity to review financial documents including Kelsey's SAG pension records, that she needs to conduct discovery proceedings to discover and protect her community property interests, that Kayte could be entitled by virtue of her marriage to Kelsey to legal rights to aspects of Kelsey's pension that would remain subject to later litigation in the divorce case, and that if Kelsey remarries and dies before the Further Hearing on Reserved Issues, Kayte can claim pension rights as Kelsey's widow and Camille would have to fund her own attorney's fees in litigation over her share of the pension rights.

Camille's attorney proposed that Kelsey post a $10 million bond to cover Camille's litigation expenses and potential losses, asserting that Camille shouldn't have to litigate against the next Mrs. Grammer-to-be (who would be Kelsey's 4th wife).

On February 2, Judge Maren Nelson told the parties' attorneys that the marriage could be dissolved once they have agreed to a settlement, and the hearing was continued to February 7.

On February 7, the attorneys advised the Court that they had reached a settlement, but the parties had not yet signed the settlement documents, that a Stipuated Judgment will be submitted to the Court on February 10, and that Kelsey will post a $2 million bond for 18 months to protect Camille's interest in his pension pending resolution of the Reserved Issues. It appears that the bifurcation battle in Marriage of Grammer is going to be resolved, shortly.

For related blogs on the subject of Bifurcation, see my April 28, 2009 blog entitled THE POUND OF FLESH REQUIRED FOR BIFURCATION, my April 28, 2009 blog entitled REASONS TO OPPOSE BIFURCATED STATUS DISSOLUTION, and my April 26, 2009 blog entitled UNTYING THE KNOT EARLY: BIFURCATION OF MARITAL STATUS

This blog was brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, a Certified Family Law Specialist, owner of WARNER CENTER LAW OFFICES in Woodland Hills, CA, a Los Angeles Divorce Lawyer who has been aggressively and effectively representing clients in Los Angeles and Ventura counties for over 35 years.