Despite having a prenuptial agreement stating their property would revert to pre-marriage ownership in a divorce, Cancer Treatment Centers of America founder, Richard Stephenson, and his ex-wife, Alicia, are embroiled in a long-standing property dispute.
Although the court upheld the premarital agreement, questions remain regarding the value and division of the shared property and the sum of spousal maintenance to be paid. The contentious battle has led to allegations of lack of financial transparency on the part of the husband and claims that the wife is inflating the husband’s financial worth.
The spectacle involving “numerous attorneys, two contempt of court orders, two appellate court rulings and even an obscene gesture flashed from one lawyer to another in court” has been going on for “way too long”, according to the judge. He would like to see the whole affair wrapped before he retires, vowing not to “delay the trial yet again.”
In fact, if a settlement is not reached sometime in the next few weeks, the trial will go on October 17. In a complex divorce spanning 7 years with millions at stake, a fair and timely resolution of this marital property and asset division dispute will likely be a welcome respite for the couple.
Source: The Chicago Tribune, “With Millions at Stake, Trial Looms in Cancer Center Founder Divorce”, by Robert McCoppin, Septermber 23, 2016.