Flying FuManchu
New Yorker
May 18, 2005 -- A New Jersey woman is trying to make legal history as she divorces her hubby of 17 years — by suing the impoverished man's parents for alimony.
Cynthia Idleman is arguing that her in-laws should support her in the posh, suburban lifestyle that she is accustomed to because they paid the family bills for years after her estranged husband became disabled, it was reported yesterday.
"They stepped into the shoes of their son, taking care of the family. You can't just lift anchor and take off," Idleman's lawyer, Tom Snyder, told The Star-Ledger of Newark.
Idleman argues that her husband's parents, retired financier Lee Idleman and wife Sue, are responsible for paying the spousal and child support that her husband, Douglas, can't afford, the paper said.
The support would include keeping Idleman and her two sons, one of whom is autistic and in need of special services, living in the $775,000 Denville home the couple bought in 1998.
Before she filed for divorce, Douglas and Cynthia Idleman lived a well-to-do lifestyle in a tony section of Morris County.
Douglas, 43, was able to take early retirement from AT&T in 1998 and move into their pricey home, where he made a good living as a self-employed marketing and public-relations expert.
The comfortable life includes expenses such as $4,600 for their mortgage, $1,333 for a private school and $1,660 for domestic help, the paper said.
Cynthia Idleman said they also had high credit-card bills.
"He wanted a great, big everything," she told The Star-Ledger. "That was him. We always had money coming in from a different place, so it didn't matter. According to him, we were covered."
Douglas came down with a severe liver illness in 2003, which incapacitated him and forced him to move in with his parents, who stepped in to pay the family bills, the newspaper said.
Douglas Idleman released a statement to The Post yesterday saying that he has "made every effort to resolve this matter amicably [and] will continue to work toward that end."
Legal experts told the paper that it would be a legal precedent in New Jersey if a man's parents were forced to pay alimony and child support to his ex-wife.
"It would be a major break in the law," Woodbridge family-law attorney John Paone Jr. told the paper.
"If the grandparents want to take their money and go to Florida tomorrow, I don't think the court can hold them back."
link to article from the NY POST
KUDOS if she wins based on such a psycho premise.
Cynthia Idleman is arguing that her in-laws should support her in the posh, suburban lifestyle that she is accustomed to because they paid the family bills for years after her estranged husband became disabled, it was reported yesterday.
"They stepped into the shoes of their son, taking care of the family. You can't just lift anchor and take off," Idleman's lawyer, Tom Snyder, told The Star-Ledger of Newark.
Idleman argues that her husband's parents, retired financier Lee Idleman and wife Sue, are responsible for paying the spousal and child support that her husband, Douglas, can't afford, the paper said.
The support would include keeping Idleman and her two sons, one of whom is autistic and in need of special services, living in the $775,000 Denville home the couple bought in 1998.
Before she filed for divorce, Douglas and Cynthia Idleman lived a well-to-do lifestyle in a tony section of Morris County.
Douglas, 43, was able to take early retirement from AT&T in 1998 and move into their pricey home, where he made a good living as a self-employed marketing and public-relations expert.
The comfortable life includes expenses such as $4,600 for their mortgage, $1,333 for a private school and $1,660 for domestic help, the paper said.
Cynthia Idleman said they also had high credit-card bills.
"He wanted a great, big everything," she told The Star-Ledger. "That was him. We always had money coming in from a different place, so it didn't matter. According to him, we were covered."
Douglas came down with a severe liver illness in 2003, which incapacitated him and forced him to move in with his parents, who stepped in to pay the family bills, the newspaper said.
Douglas Idleman released a statement to The Post yesterday saying that he has "made every effort to resolve this matter amicably [and] will continue to work toward that end."
Legal experts told the paper that it would be a legal precedent in New Jersey if a man's parents were forced to pay alimony and child support to his ex-wife.
"It would be a major break in the law," Woodbridge family-law attorney John Paone Jr. told the paper.
"If the grandparents want to take their money and go to Florida tomorrow, I don't think the court can hold them back."
link to article from the NY POST
KUDOS if she wins based on such a psycho premise.