Last week, Los Angeles judge Scott Gordon (the same judge who presided over Britney Spears’ divorce from and custody battles with Kevin Federline) found a post-nuptial agreement between the husband and wife owners of the L.A. Dodgers baseball team was invalid and unenforceable. The purported agreement would have made Frank McCourt the sole owner of the team.

The McCourts have been married since 1979 and have an estimated net worth of $1.29 billion, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Judge Gordon found that there was no meeting of the minds between Frank McCourt and his longtime wife and business partner Jamie McCourt. He essentially held that they never shared the same understanding of what it meant when the agreement transferred title of the team to Frank.

“The parties had mistaken belief and no agreement as to the meaning of the agreement, the content of the agreement, and the effect of the [agreement] on their property and property rights,” Gordon wrote in his ruling.

Frank McCourt’s lawyers still assert that there is no effect on the ownership of the Dodgers, that Jamie McCourt still has no rights to the team and that Frank still holds legal title. Jamie McCourt’s lawyers maintain that the team is to be considered community property regardless of legal title.

Attorneys for Frank McCourt already have indicated to the court that they plan to file another claim that would give their client sole ownership of the Dodgers, arguing that he bought the team with a company he established before he married Jamie.

Frank McCourt contended the agreement set the Dodgers aside to him; Jamie argued that she did not know that she was agreeing to give up a stake in the team by signing. Neither party apparently read the agreement closely. It was apparently intended to set aside the family real estate to Jamie in order to protect them from Frank’s business creditors.

The McCourts purchased controlling interest in the Dodgers on Jan. 29, 2004 for $430 million (the team is valued at $722 million). Frank McCourt reportedly financed more than half the amount he invested when he bought the team from FOX Entertainment Inc. Jamie McCourt became the team’s CEO on March 17, 2009. Prior to becoming CEO, she was club president since Aug. 12, 2005. She was relieved of her duties when the couple split last year.

Community property laws in California would give Jamie McCourt a 50 percent share of the McCourt’s share of the Dodgers and any of her husband’s other assets acquired post-marriage – unless there is an agreement which indicates otherwise.

Jamie McCourt is represented by Dennis Wasser and Michael Kump. Frank McCourt’s legal team includes Sorrell Trope.

Library Topics: post-nuptial agreement, community property