The president's son's wife just lawyered up

[Underseer]

https://pagesix.com/2018/03/16/vanessa-trump-hires-criminal-defense-attorney-for-donald-jr-divorce/

Recap: on the same day Mueller requested documents from Trump's business, Don jr. and wife filed for a quick, no contest divorce. The suspicion is that the couple is using this divorce to hide assets before any criminal trials start.

So to add fuel to the fire, mrs. Don jr. got a criminal defense lawyer as her divorce lawyer. It's not at all unusual that she hired an attorney to handle her divorce, but she hired a criminal defense attorney to be her divorce lawyer.

Vanessa Trump has hired a criminal defense attorney to represent her in her divorce from Donald Trump Jr. just as special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed the president’s family business.

I'll be the first to admit that the NY Post doesn't exactly have the highest journalistic standards, but their bias is definitely conservative. It is highly unlikely that they would lie to make fellow conservatives look bad.

It's as if the entire Trump clan is made up of mental midgets waving big red flags while shouting "Look! I'm definitely up to something!"

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It may not be a case of being a mental midget, but rather that she has information about what's going on and wants to make sure that one of her kids' parents stays out of prison.

 

[Rhea]

I’m currently going with the, they are working together to hide money, angle. I figure they think first about their bank accounts, then about their kids.

 

[RavenSky]

I’m currently going with the, they are working together to hide money, angle. I figure they think first about their bank accounts, then about their kids.

^^^ That

And I suspect any "divorce" settlement with have some language in there that they cannot be compelled to testify against each other (hence the need for a criminal lawyer drafting documents rather than a divorce attorney)

 

[jonatha]

And I suspect any "divorce" settlement with have some language in there that they cannot be compelled to testify against each other

Why would the court care what their settlement said on that subject?

(I know, for example, that even if the IRS rules say the custodial parent gets the child's personal exemption the court can still require that it be given to the noncustodial parent. If the court doesn't have to pay attention to the IRS, why should the court pay attention to a divorce settlement that purports to enjoin the court from its customary practices?)

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I wonder if she would be willing to wear a wire or would she get Adrian'ed.

 

[Opoponax]

This may not be as ugly as it looks.

A no contest divorce is something almost any attorney can do. Even non-lawyer couples can do it. I helped people in a clinic at a local courthouse do it. If the parties, on their own, can come to a custody and visitation agreement, agree how the assets are to be divided, and agree on child support, there's not a lot more to it.

Most of it is literally just forms that need to be filled out, and then (at least in California) there's a six month waiting period. Then the divorce is final.

So if they already knew and were comfortable with this criminal defense lawyer, then it's not unreasonable to think they did so in order to save time and a shitload of money.

I'm happy to speculate on the slime the Trump family is covered in, but this is most likely just a way to go about divorce in a cheap, sensible way.

OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if something especially fucky was behind this. So there's that.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It may not be a case of being a mental midget, but rather that she has information about what's going on and wants to make sure that one of her kids' parents stays out of prison.

Or that she's simply trying to save herself.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It may not be a case of being a mental midget, but rather that she has information about what's going on and wants to make sure that one of her kids' parents stays out of prison.

If you get interviewed by the FBI or the Special Counsel, you lawyer up because if you tell a lie, even by accident, you could be fucked. Lets remember that Martha Stewart went to prison... while almost no one for 2008's crash did.

 

[Malintent]

I’m currently going with the, they are working together to hide money, angle. I figure they think first about their bank accounts, then about their kids.

^^^ That

And I suspect any "divorce" settlement with have some language in there that they cannot be compelled to testify against each other (hence the need for a criminal lawyer drafting documents rather than a divorce attorney)

makes no sense... it is already the case that a spouse cannot be compelled to testify against their partner. Divorcees do not have that protection, I am pretty sure.
Also, no civil agreement takes precedence over the law. If Muller asked Stormy if she fucked Don, she couldn't just say that she was bound by an agreement to not disclose that... those terms are invalid in the context of a legal proceeding.

 

[starwater]

Seems awfully coincidental to file that quickly and hiring a criminal defense attorney. Follow the money.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

This may not be as ugly as it looks. A no contest divorce is something almost any attorney can do. Even non-lawyer couples can do it.

Doesn’t that make the fact that she hired a criminal lawyer all the more revealing then?

 

[Malintent]

OK, I read more on this now... So, my take is that the family believes that asset forfeiture is an inevitability of what Mueller is looking into. Since Don Jr. and his spouse have a prenuptial agreement (a highly supported assumption), a "no contest" divorce can be done very quickly. The terms of the pre-nuptial likely have some amount of assets transferring to her. If they can get that transfer of assets done before Don Jr. is indicted on whatever is going to seize his assets, then a sizeable portion of those assets can be preserved for their children.

... and Mueller knows this, obviously (if my reading between the lines is accurate). I am sure a great big, "fuck you you're not taking any of this" is coming from them..

Seize now, due process later... right?

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

I'll be the first to admit that the NY Post doesn't exactly have the highest journalistic standards, but their bias is definitely conservative. It is highly unlikely that they would lie to make fellow conservatives look bad.

Unless it’s a sort of “false flag” baiting attempt (so that they could shout “fake news” if it went viral)? It does seem odd that if you google the story, it’s not covered by any of the more legitimate msm. I think “People” is the least biased source that reported this, which is not exactly a ringing endorsement.

 

[Opoponax]

This may not be as ugly as it looks. A no contest divorce is something almost any attorney can do. Even non-lawyer couples can do it.

Doesn’t that make the fact that she hired a criminal lawyer all the more revealing then?

No. Not if it's an amicable split. For example, if they have a prenup in place and neither of them are contesting it, you really don't need a specialist to handle the matter. Like I said before, if they already know what they want to do in terms of custody, property division, etc., it's actually a relatively straightforward matter.

Another thing is that this lawyer may have worked in family law previous to now. It's really common.

And while Don Jr. and his wife probably could fill out the forms themselves, it's a pain in the ass. It is relatively simple, but it's still really stressful and the parties have to communicate with each other each step of the way. Also, if there is say, a prenup, then the paperwork needs to reflect all the terms and conditions of the prenup. If the court discovers an error, they'll kick it back to the parties, who will then have to fix it and re-submit, which means even more stress and time. Even though most couples I worked with could usually do it themselves, they often needed to come back several times because they had questions.

Importantly most of those people didn't have money and had very little, if anything, in the way of assets. I imagine Don Jr. and his wife have considerable assets, which, even when the division is agreed upon, can get overwhelming (e.g., quitclaim deeds for jointly held property--not a big deal, particularly for someone like Don Jr., but they probably have more than QC deeds to worry about).

For them, this is better handled by someone they know and trust who has the training to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. It'll probably be given to an intern or assistant or maybe even an associate with a background in family law and community property.

Besides, could you imagine this couple sitting on blue plastic chairs, staring off into space, trying not to look at each other while waiting for their appointment at their local family law self-help division?

Again, they could very well be up to some kind of fuckery. It wouldn't be at all surprising. But for now, the hiring of this particular lawyer is likely better explained by the above.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

OK, I read more on this now... So, my take is that the family believes that asset forfeiture is an inevitability of what Mueller is looking into. Since Don Jr. and his spouse have a prenuptial agreement (a highly supported assumption), a "no contest" divorce can be done very quickly. The terms of the pre-nuptial likely have some amount of assets transferring to her. If they can get that transfer of assets done before Don Jr. is indicted on whatever is going to seize his assets, then a sizeable portion of those assets can be preserved for their children.

... and Mueller knows this, obviously (if my reading between the lines is accurate). I am sure a great big, "fuck you you're not taking any of this" is coming from them..

Seize now, due process later... right?

That would explain the divorce, not the criminal attorney.

Also, I would expect it wouldn't work--it would be shown to be done for the purpose of sheltering assets and they would be gotten anyway.

 

[Malintent]

OK, I read more on this now... So, my take is that the family believes that asset forfeiture is an inevitability of what Mueller is looking into. Since Don Jr. and his spouse have a prenuptial agreement (a highly supported assumption), a "no contest" divorce can be done very quickly. The terms of the pre-nuptial likely have some amount of assets transferring to her. If they can get that transfer of assets done before Don Jr. is indicted on whatever is going to seize his assets, then a sizeable portion of those assets can be preserved for their children.

... and Mueller knows this, obviously (if my reading between the lines is accurate). I am sure a great big, "fuck you you're not taking any of this" is coming from them..

Seize now, due process later... right?

That would explain the divorce, not the criminal attorney.

So, was it a criminal attorney, individually, or a law firm that is known for their expertise in criminal law that they already have a relationship with, who assigned a regular divorce attorney to them?

Also, I would expect it wouldn't work--it would be shown to be done for the purpose of sheltering assets and they would be gotten anyway.

Thus the criminal law expertise has value, no?

Lawyers have liability to their clients to provide the best practical service the client can get. An attorney that is not qualified for the case at hand is expected to decline to serve the client, in order to ensure they have the best representation available to them. To do otherwise would be unethical and involve some liability if the outcome was unfavorable.

 

[Underseer]

This may not be as ugly as it looks.

A no contest divorce is something almost any attorney can do. Even non-lawyer couples can do it. I helped people in a clinic at a local courthouse do it. If the parties, on their own, can come to a custody and visitation agreement, agree how the assets are to be divided, and agree on child support, there's not a lot more to it.

Most of it is literally just forms that need to be filled out, and then (at least in California) there's a six month waiting period. Then the divorce is final.

So if they already knew and were comfortable with this criminal defense lawyer, then it's not unreasonable to think they did so in order to save time and a shitload of money.

I'm happy to speculate on the slime the Trump family is covered in, but this is most likely just a way to go about divorce in a cheap, sensible way.

OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if something especially fucky was behind this. So there's that.

Yes. I'm sure that she couldn't afford an attorney who specializes in divorce and had to settle for a criminal attorney to do it for her. You know how poor that family is.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence. I'm sure that must be it.

 

[Opoponax]

This may not be as ugly as it looks.

A no contest divorce is something almost any attorney can do. Even non-lawyer couples can do it. I helped people in a clinic at a local courthouse do it. If the parties, on their own, can come to a custody and visitation agreement, agree how the assets are to be divided, and agree on child support, there's not a lot more to it.

Most of it is literally just forms that need to be filled out, and then (at least in California) there's a six month waiting period. Then the divorce is final.

So if they already knew and were comfortable with this criminal defense lawyer, then it's not unreasonable to think they did so in order to save time and a shitload of money.

I'm happy to speculate on the slime the Trump family is covered in, but this is most likely just a way to go about divorce in a cheap, sensible way.

OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if something especially fucky was behind this. So there's that.

Yes. I'm sure that she couldn't afford an attorney who specializes in divorce and had to settle for a criminal attorney to do it for her. You know how poor that family is.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence. I'm sure that must be it.

All I'm saying is that there may be a far more mundane explanation for this. And even though they're rich, it doesn't make any sense to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to family law/community property specialists when there's nothing to contest.

And as someone else and myself pointed out, they could have gone to see this criminal defense attorney because they knew and/or were comfortable with him, who then handed it off to someone else in the firm who does or has practiced family law. It's very common.

 

[Malintent]

This may not be as ugly as it looks.

A no contest divorce is something almost any attorney can do. Even non-lawyer couples can do it. I helped people in a clinic at a local courthouse do it. If the parties, on their own, can come to a custody and visitation agreement, agree how the assets are to be divided, and agree on child support, there's not a lot more to it.

Most of it is literally just forms that need to be filled out, and then (at least in California) there's a six month waiting period. Then the divorce is final.

So if they already knew and were comfortable with this criminal defense lawyer, then it's not unreasonable to think they did so in order to save time and a shitload of money.

I'm happy to speculate on the slime the Trump family is covered in, but this is most likely just a way to go about divorce in a cheap, sensible way.

OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if something especially fucky was behind this. So there's that.

Yes. I'm sure that she couldn't afford an attorney who specializes in divorce and had to settle for a criminal attorney to do it for her. You know how poor that family is.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence. I'm sure that must be it.

All I'm saying is that there may be a far more mundane explanation for this. And even though they're rich, it doesn't make any sense to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to family law/community property specialists when there's nothing to contest.

And as someone else and myself pointed out, they could have gone to see this criminal defense attorney because they knew and/or were comfortable with him, who then handed it off to someone else in the firm who does or has practiced family law. It's very common.

Yes, I have to agree with you on that... except the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few billable hours finalizing paperwork for an uncontested separation, guided by a pre-nup. The true cost for, lets just say 20 billable hours, is well under $10,000 after all the nickel and diming... by the most expensive divorce lawyer in the world...

So, I don't buy for a second that cost had anything to do with this in the remotest way.

I'll go with the "they knew this guy and trust him" angle.

Better question.. why is a criminal defense lawyer their "best friend" in the industry? Why isn't it a human rights lawyer... or an eldercare lawyer.. or intellectual property lawyer (that would make most sense, in an ethical business dealing sort of way)? Why is a criminal lawyer their go-to (assuming they don't already know that they need criminal law help).