Robin Williams' Wife Files for Divorce

Marsha Garces Williams, wife of actor/comedian Robin Williams, filed a petition for divorce last week in San Francisco. The couple has been married since 1989. They met while Garces Williams worked as a nanny for Williams’ oldest son. She then worked as Williams’ personal assistant. Shortly after Williams divorced his first wife, he and Garces Williams were married. Garces Williams and Williams have two children, Zelda, born in 1989 and Cody, born in 1991.

While the extent of the Williams’ marital property is unknown, Garces Williams will likely receive a large property distribution. The divorce is filed in California, which is a community property state, and Garces Williams’ petition cited irreconcilable differences as the grounds for divorce. This indicates that she is pursuing a no-fault divorce. In such situations, the marital property will be divided equally between the husband and the wife. Presumably, after a 19 year marriage, Garces Williams will also receive spousal support – either in regular payments or in a lump sum.

The parties’ children are teenagers, which may make the custody and child support determination fairly simple. In California, child support must be paid until the child becomes 18, unless the child has not graduated from high school, in which case the support payments continue until the child has graduated high school or turns 19, whichever occurs first. Parents can agree, however, that child support will continue into the child’s college years. Zelda, the older child, is almost 19. Cody is 16 years old (he’ll be 17 this fall). Child support was not requested for Zelda, an indication that she has already graduated from high school. Support for Cody will be fairly short-term. As far as custody goes, Cody is old enough to voice his own opinion on the matter if his parents are unable to agree on an arrangement. Often, visitation schedules for teenagers are relatively flexible due to their school, extracurricular, employment and social requirements. Garces Williams has requested joint legal custody of Cody and primary physical custody with visitation rights to Williams.

No further information about the split was released by Williams’ representative or by Garces Williams’ attorney, Robert Kaufman. Kaufman is a Los Angeles-based family law attorney who has previously represented such major names as Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.