University of Arizona men’s basketball coach Lute Olson’s five month divorce battle is getting uglier. It was reported today that Olson has been ordered to appear in the Pima County, Arizona court on May 7th to explain why he transferred money from a joint account into his individual account one day after he filed for divorce from wife Christine Olson in December. Both husband and wife were apparently prohibited from withdrawing or transferring funds pending resolution of the divorce case. The transfer was reportedly made because athletic shoe and apparel maker Nike deposited Olson’s endorsement money directly into the joint account. Olson earns a reported $500,000 a year from Nike in addition to his university salary. Arizona is a community property state, which means that all marital assets are divided equally between both spouses. Non-marital or separate assets are generally awarded to the original owner of the property (and not split between the spouses).

The Olson divorce has been fairly public and high-profile, especially in Arizona. The couple’s attorneys are regularly quoted in the newspapers. They have argued over the scheduling of depositions and the subpoenaing of financial records. Olson is also challenging the validity of a postnuptial agreement (the media keeps mistakenly referring to it as a “prenuptial agreement“) the couple signed on an airplane on their way to Mexico for a honeymoon, two days after they were married. Christine Olson’s lawyer claims that the agreement merely reserves each spouse’s separate assets as their own. Lute Olson’s attorney argues that certain pages of the agreement were not signed or initialed, that Christine refused to provide Lute with a copy of the agreement and that Christine did not fully disclose her financial resources to Lute before they signed the agreement. Christine is CEO of an oil and gas contract drilling company in Pennsylvania – an enterprise which has been in her family for several generations. She is also a member of the Republican National Committee.

Lute and Christine Olson were married in 2003, two years after Olson’s first wife Bobbi passed away. Olson and Bobbi were married for 47 years. Olson took a leave of absence from coaching in late 2007 and, very shortly thereafter, filed for divorce. Christine Olson initially objected to the divorce and asked the court to order the couple into counseling through a legal process called conciliation. Almost immediately, both parties agreed that counseling was futile and moved forward with the divorce. The case is expected to be tried later this year.

Sources: SI.com, The Tucson Citizen