NEW YORK — The new year won’t be happy for all the married folks who have been forced together by COVID and are now headed toward divorce.
Matrimonial lawyers I spoke to are expecting a bumper crop of cases as people discover they just can’t stand their spouses.
“All these people are being forced to live together,” said Ken Jewell, who repped Libbie Mugrabi in her divorce from David Mugrabi, whose family’s art collection includes 800 Andy Warhol artworks.
Jewell, of Jewell Law, PLLC, said it’s most important for would-be spouses to sign a prenuptial agreement.
“People who have a prenup can save a lot of money, as long as the prenup is handled properly,” Jewell said.
“I’ve been working on one eight months in advance of the wedding.”
Jeff Bezos might agree. He had no prenup with wife MacKenzie Scott, who helped him found Amazon and bore him four children. She’s now worth $67 billion.
It could have been worse, since Bezos is worth $195 billion.
“Lawyers who are smart tell their clients, ‘You are better off settling,’” said Marilyn Chinitz, of Blank Rome, whose clients have included Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas.
“People are so overcharged with emotion, they don’t see the true costs.”
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, was recently ordered by a London judge to pay his sixth wife a $730 million divorce settlement.
But what really got the attention of American lawyers was the legal bill he owes, $105 million.
“It was a drop of water for him,” Chinitz said. “There’s a substantial amount of money out there.”
Martha Cohen Stine, who handled the divorces of talk show host Wendy Williams, actor Laurence Fishburne and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, says there are ways to pinch pennies.
Stine, of Cohen Stine Kapoor LLP, said, “The fees are highest if a divorce is litigated.” So stay out of court.
Bill and Melinda Gates mostly avoided unpleasantness, as did rapper Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, and singer Adele and Simon Konecki.
Billionaire and financier John Paulsen and wife Jenny have no prenup, and could be heading for a battle royale, as well as actor Sean Penn and ex-wife Leila George.
Said one lawyer, “Monies are expended because of public stature.”
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Ramona Singer was showing off a blue brace on her left hand at a lunch hosted by author Jean Shafiroff for the New York Women’s Foundation at The Pierre NY hotel in Midtown.
“The Real Housewife of New York” told pal Jill Zarin that she was standing on a table at home doing a selfie when she fell, injuring her hand.
Not one to miss a party, Ramona soldiered on and joined 60 other ladies who lunch, including singer Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin, businesswoman Carole Crist, socialite Liliana Cavendish, and PARK Magazine publisher Christopher Pape.
The well-lubricated lunch with a parade of champagne bottles was still going strong at 5 p.m.
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R.J. Cipriani, who likes to be called Robin Hood 702, is facing an arrest warrant in Las Vegas.
The professional gambler, who has been feuding with the execs who run Resorts World Las Vegas Casino, says he was being harassed in the casino by another gambler who kept filming him with a cellphone.
Cipriani grabbed the phone and handed it over to casino security.
But now the district attorney is charging him with stealing the phone.
Cipriani claims he isn’t worried.
“I’m one of the good guys and good always triumphs,” he told me. “I will be vindicated, wait and see!”
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Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Somos Community Care founder Dr. Ramon Tallaj to help lead the Health Committee transition team to deal with the omicron outbreak.
Actress Eva Longoria, ex-Yankee Mariano Rivera and singer Marc Anthony have been supporting Somos’ vaccination campaign since the start of the pandemic.
Somos — a nonprofit for a million underserved members of the Black, Latino and Chinese communities — is giving out 100 prepaid debit cards to whoever gets a booster shot.
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Comedian Pam Gaslow finally stopped smoking pot and penned a book: “Don’t Bring Your Vibrator to Rehab: A Somewhat Comedic Memoir.”
The BookBaby tome to be released Jan. 11 chronicles Gaslow’s search for a rehab facility to help her kick marijuana addiction.
“Gaslow was the 24-hour defunct addict living without purpose and barely able to function,” Amazon says. “And while she was aware that pot wouldn’t kill her, she couldn’t feel more dead inside.”
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