Divorce case stretches into its fifth year

With two children, yachts, properties and millions of dollars to fight over, a couple settle into a state of strife.

[Special to the Times] In happier times, Karen and Ted Irwin travel on one of their sailboats in Nevis, the West Indies.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 12, 2001

ST. PETE BEACH -- Ted Irwin and Karen Pilcher met on the ski slopes in Vail, Colo., each recovering from a failed marriage.

Within months, Karen Pilcher had moved to Pinellas County, where Ted Irwin grew up and made millions designing and building yachts. Ted Irwin proposed during a boat racing trip to Key West.

Irwin, still smarting from his nasty divorce, wanted his bride-to-be to sign a prenuptial agreement that called for her to receive no alimony if the marriage fell apart. She signed the document weeks before they wed at the courthouse in 1987.

But a decade later when the good times ended, Mrs. Irwin fought the prenuptial agreement and argued her husband had forced her to sign it. Though a judge ruled in his favor, Irwin is forced to pay $2,000 a month in temporary alimony until the divorce is final.

But it still isn't.

The Irwins are entering their fifth year of divorce litigation, an unheard-of length of time for what has become a routine procedure in America's courts.

"The complications stagger the imagination," said Raymond Alley, a family law attorney in Tampa. "Five years is a long time. Generally, people don't want to let them go that long."

The Florida Supreme Court recommends that contested divorce cases last no longer than 18 months. Area attorneys estimate cases usually take less than that, a few months to a year.

The Irwins' case, filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court in 1997, has become one of the most lengthy in the area's history. And it's not over yet.

There have been three judges, including one who recused herself and another who was asked to do the same; five lawyers billing hundreds of thousands of dollars; and hundreds of motions entered neatly into 15 thick court files.

Though it's rare, divorces can take years because of disagreements about child custody, prenuptial agreements, joint business ventures or allegations of hidden assets. Lots of assets and bitter feelings only slow the proceedings.

The Irwin case has all that and more.

Ted and Karen Irwin have waged war over what you would expect -- two children, millions of dollars, a share of a St. Pete Beach condo development, a waterfront home, rental properties and yachts. But they also have fought about smaller details such as who will pay for document copies and what time the children need to call home.

Ted Irwin, 61, said he made a reasonable deal with his wife years ago, and that she just wants to delay the case as long as possible to keep getting temporary alimony. Mrs. Irwin, 50, said she was pregnant, but her husband refused to marry her unless she signed a prenuptial agreement. She says he won't end the case because he has a love for litigation.

Some attorneys say that if a case lasts this long, someone is intentionally delaying it.

"You have some people who use that as a tactic, hoping the other side will eventually run out of steam," said Elizabeth Reineke, a Tampa attorney specializing in family law. "The wheels of justice crawl. . . . Some days you never feel like you get off Page 1."

Prenuptial pact

Ted Irwin wanted to roam the world, sailing, fishing and scuba diving. Karen Irwin wanted to settle down, build a waterfront house on St. Pete Beach and raise their children.

After a decade together, it become obvious to them that they were no longer compatible.

Mrs. Irwin took the children and moved out of the family's home in June 1997. Six months later, the two agreed to a "fast, quick divorce," Mrs. Irwin said.

Neither of them dispute that Mrs. Irwin signed a prenuptial agreement that entitled her to $100,000 but no alimony or property in the event of a divorce. But they disagree about why she signed.

Ted Irwin said he asked her to sign because he didn't want to jeopardize his riches. Irwin, known for designing and racing yachts, had amassed $3.5-million by the mid 1980s.

"I cared a lot about her, but I wasn't going to go ahead and get married until I protected my assets that was 30 years of hard work," he said. "We had a deal."

Mrs. Irwin said her husband forced her to sign the prenuptial agreement by threatening to not marry her when she was pregnant with their first child. She said he gave her the document with no warning the day before their wedding was scheduled, preventing her from hiring her own attorney.

"I didn't want to. I had to," Mrs. Irwin said at a deposition. "I felt I had no choice."

Prenuptial agreements are fairly common with older couples who have substantial assets or have gone through nasty fights over money in previous relationships, family law attorneys say. Though they are almost always contested, they are difficult to overturn.

Mrs. Irwin fought the prenuptial agreement, but in December 1999, a Pinellas judge declared it valid. The judge didn't rule on the slew of other disputed issues, though, because of complications caused by a separate lawsuit.

Irwin had sued his two partners in the St. Pete Beach condo development, demanding money he says he was owed. Mrs. Irwin joined the suit, though she recently got out.

"I'm a victim of the system," Mrs. Irwin said recently while at her parents' house in Alabama. "Women should be warned. The system is very supportive to men."

Mrs. Irwin, who used to work for her husband at boat shows, said the two reached an oral agreement during the marriage to share some assets. Irwin even transferred some property to his wife in 1994, but he says that was just for liability reasons. Florida law says spouses are entitled to some of what was acquired during marriage but not assets brought into the marriage.

"There's nothing she says that isn't pure fantasy," Irwin said while taking a break from fixing up a 68-foot yacht behind his house. "It's so frustrating."

[Times photo: Bill Serne] Ted Irwin of St. Pete Beach has a prenuptial agreement with his wife that entitles her to $100,000 but no alimony or property in a divorce.

A mass of motions

The Irwins' divorce is scheduled for trial in October, but has been postponed before and could be again. The case has had more than its share of delays even aside from the years spent fighting over the prenuptial agreement.

There have been arguments over who has custody of the children, what the parents can tell the children about the divorce and how much child support should be paid. Mrs. Irwin tried to get two of the three judges removed from the case, succeeding once. Each side has used more than one attorney, firing them or losing them because of sicknesses or lack of money.

But more than anything else, the two have filed numerous requests asking the judge to make decisions on motions about things such as when one side should provide financial statements and whether an account can be frozen. At one point, 17 motions were being considered at the same time.

Family law attorneys say cases always take longer if mediation fails -- as it did in this case -- and a judge is left to make decisions like those.

"The degree to which the parties fight controls how long a case lasts," St. Petersburg attorney Michael Hastings said.

While a case is pending, Florida law requires that Irwin pay his wife alimony, some of her attorney fees and child support even if she is not entitled to it after the divorce. Irwin pays his wife $2,000 a month in alimony, $1,000 a month in child support and has paid about $68,000 in her legal fees and another $70,000 for his own fees.

Irwin, who is semiretired, said his net worth has dwindled to about $500,000 because his businesses fell on hard times years ago and he isn't able to use his remaining assests -- tied up in the divorce -- to try to make more money. He is using scraps to piece together one last boat behind his home, a large, somewhat rundown house in a pristine part of St. Pete Beach.

Mrs. Irwin said her husband still owes her back child support, alimony and legal fees and money for the children's private school tuition and braces.

A real estate agent, Mrs. Irwin made $117,000 last year, according to court documents. She lives in a family-owned condo with the children, Trey, 13, and Taylor, 10.

The two are allowed frequent visits with their father, but both parents say they don't spend much time with Irwin.

Both Ted and Karen Irwin agree on this: Their lives are in financial dire straits because of the lengthy litigation.

"This is a clear abuse of the process," Irwin said. "I'm sitting here helplessly as a bystander."

He and his soon-to-be ex-wife said they are eager to get the divorce completed, and just move on with their lives.

"This just needs to stop," she said. "This nuisance needs to stop."

- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

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