A property settlement agreement was previously reached in the divorce of former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his ex-wife Jamie McCourt. However, Jamie is currently going to court to reopen it and have it set aside. Her contention is that the sale of the team earlier in 2012 for the record amount of $2 billion shows that Frank stated an unreasonably low value for his ownership of the team in the course of negotiating the settlement. The court has scheduled a hearing on the issue for mid-November.

Ms. McCourt's lawyer asserted that the upshot of the agreement, viewed in retrospect, is that she received only about 7 percent of the family assets, while the husband held onto an unjust 93 percent. Requests to her ex-husband to negotiate a modification of the settlement reportedly received no response, leading to her motion to the court to reexamine the case.

Frank stated during the divorce proceeding that his ownership of the professional major league baseball team was worth $300 million. In light of the subsequent sale of the team for a price many times that estimate, Jamie McCourt contends, that was a vast understatement so egregious as to amount to fraud.

The settlement concluded by her receiving $131 million. She now believes that her husband's assets, after deducting various debts, were actually worth $1.7 billion, or in excess of 10 times the amount she was granted in the settlement. Whether the understatement was the result of knowing fraud or an innocent mistake, the wife argues, the difference is great enough to be unjust, requiring the settlement to be reexamined.

While the majority of divorces do not deal with multi-million dollar settlements, most do look at an equitable distribution of the couple's assets. When a couple goes through a divorce it is necessary for both spouses to be honest about their finances in order to get an accurate picture of the couple's assets. Once a clear picture can be evaluated, a fair division of the property can be ascertained by the court.

Source: Huff Post Los Angeles, "Jamie McCourt Divorce: Ex-Wife Claims Frank McCourt Vastly Understated Dodgers Value," Sept. 26, 2012