The couple reportedly agreed that Kate Gosselin would have primary physical custody of the children with visitation for Jon Gosselin. They also apparently agreed that neither would receive spousal support.

The details of their financial split however were left to an arbitrator, an independent third-party who heard evidence and arguments and issued a binding decision on the money matters. According to Kate Gosselin’s lawyer, Kate will continue to live in the former marital home as primary residential custodian of all eight kids.

Jon Gosselin’s attorney says that “the arbitration proceedings are still a work in progress.” Not sure what that means as it has been widely reported that the arbitrator issued his ruling and that said ruling was finalized by the family court’s judgment.

TMZ.com reports that Jon has been ordered to pay substantial child support and was also charged with the $235,000 he withdrew from the former couple’s joint bank account earlier this year. That amount was deducted from his side of the property distribution. They report that Jon’s arguments that Kate also withdrew inappropriate funds were rejected by the arbitrator.

There has been no report on whether the parties agreed to allow the children to appear on Kate Gosselin’s new reality show. Jon Gosselin recently refused to allow the kids to appear on Jon & Kate Plus 8, resulting in the cancellation of the show.

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The account allegedly held about $230,000 until Jon removed all but $1,345 earlier this month. Kate said on The View that she uses that account to pay the family’s bills.

Kate’s attorney said that she used $55,000 for household bills and expenses relating to the children, which apparently explains why Jon wasn’t required to return all $230,000. The remaining amounts are subject to further determination by an arbitrator. Jon’s attorney, unsurprisingly, says that there has been no determination or proof that Kate spent the $55,000 on family expenses.

“Nor has there been a determination concerning the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Kate has failed to account for in violation of the arbitrator’s order,” Jon’s lawyer said via written statement. “It may very well be determined that very substantial sums of money which Kate has failed to account for might have been misapplied and misused by Kate. As of now, Jon Gosselin chooses to give Kate the benefit of doubt, but we are all anxiously awaiting her compliance.”

Jon must return the funds to the account by October 26 or face contempt proceedings. Kate is also required to provide a detailed accounting of past expenses by the same date.

Kate says, “As difficult as this has been for me, I am pleased that the court has ruled fairly on behalf of myself and my children. Now that this matter has been ruled on, I look forward to returning to private arbitration, as we have agreed to do, to resolve any remaining issues.”

Other sites report that Jon claims that Kate is hiding money from the court and from Jon and his attorneys. There has been no proof offered for those allegations but if they were found to be true, such actions constitute fraud and generally establish sufficient reason to have settlement agreements and divorce judgments set aside. Parties engaging in fraud also open themselves up to additional civil lawsuits.

Frankly, Jon Gosselin’s behavior in the last few weeks (even the last few months) is unlikely to engender any sympathy or kindness from the judge, much as it has brought consistently negative media attention to the father of eight. I continue to find it amazing that some divorce attorneys actually advise their clients to behave in this manner.

It’s unfortunate but I’ve got to believe that these antics will continue to provide fodder for this blog for quite some time to come.

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Jon hired Philadelphia divorce attorney Charles J. Meyer even prior to the filing. Meyer is listed in the paperwork, indicating that attorneys for both parties were at least in touch with one another prior to heading to the courthouse. The choice of filing in a neighboring county (possibly in a failed attempt to throw off the media?) was, in fact, agreed upon by attorneys beforehand according to the Complaint (a copy of which can be found at TMZ.com).

The media initially jumped on one statement in the Complaint and completely misconstrued it. In seeking a no-fault divorce, Kate pleaded that the marriage was irretrievably broken. She also pleaded that, at the time of any hearing of the divorce, she would submit an affidavit showing that she and Jon had lived apart for two years. Initial reports reported that she claimed that they had been separated for two years prior to the filing of the divorce complaint.

This was clearly wrong. Pennsylvania has two procedural avenues to obtain a no-fault divorce – one is to claim that the marriage is irretrievably broken and have both parties agree to that fact; the other way is to claim an irretrievably broken marriage and a two-year separation. If forced to use that option, Kate would have to wait for two years to finalize the divorce.

Kate’s complaint merely puts both options on the table in the event there would be no agreement that the marriage was un-fixable. Seems like boilerplate language to me. Nothing worthy of the media uproar it caused.

Further review of the divorce complaint reveals nothing other than they haven’t yet agreed to a financial settlement. The former couple has reportedly agreed, at least on a temporary basis, to trade off spending time with their eight children in their new home. I’ve never seen an arrangement like that work for the long-term – so I anticipate that ultimately a more traditional custody arrangement will be reached.

TLC has placed the show on hiatus for the summer so that the family can handle these personal issues.

Meyer also currently represents Philadelphia 76ers player Andre Iguodala in a child support case. Kate hired local Montgomery County family law attorney Cheryl Young.

Also See:

Possible Jon & Kate Divorce Could Be Very Complicated

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3. Possible Jon & Kate Divorce Could Be Very Complicated

So, what would the potential divorce of these two entail? Ultimately, any Gosselin divorce would cover exactly what typical divorces do. Their marriage would be legally terminated. They would divide their assets and debts. They would have a custody and visitation order. There would be child support and possibly spousal support. The variables in this case, though, are obvious.

The Gosselins live in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, like most states, has a no-fault divorce option although an at-fault divorce can still be pursued as well. The grounds for at-fault divorce in Pennsylvania are abandonment for more than a year, adultery, endangerment of a spouse’s life or health, bigamy or imprisonment for more than two years. Fault, though, plays no role in the division of property and a very limited role in the award of spousal support. So, it would be unnecessary for either Jon or Kate to allege adultery or any other at-fault ground to obtain a divorce.

The division of property in Pennsylvania is achieved by equitable distribution – a division which is fair under the specific circumstances of the case. In this situation, it will likely be “fair and equitable” to provide the party with physical custody of the kids a slightly greater than 50% share of the marital assets.

Property division, of course, can be affected by the existence of a prenup. It would be very surprising though to discover that Jon and Kate have a prenuptial agreement, as they were young when first married and years away from fame and fortune. They now have a $1 million dollar estate and, presumably, substantial marital assets as a result of the television show and other related appearances. If any of the assets have been placed in trust for the children, those assets may or may not be distributed to the parents in the divorce (it would depend on the language of the trust agreement).

Based solely on Kate’s personality as portrayed on the television show, I would be very surprised if she agreed to a shared custody arrangement of the children. I would anticipate joint legal custody, primary physical custody of the kids to Kate with regular visitation with Jon. There is certainly no law that gives preference to Kate as the mother – this is just my speculation based on their behaviors on the show.

I would foresee the stickiest issue in any potential Gosselin divorce to be support – child support and spousal support. Although Pennsylvania, like other states, has established Child Support Guidelines to calculate appropriate levels of support, the Gosselin case would probably not use those guidelines for two reasons. First, the guidelines do not anticipate families with eight children. And second, the guidelines only deal with families who make up to $15,000 per month. Instead of performing a simple calculation, the court would have to determine what the children’s “reasonable needs” were. With eight children and a modicum of fame, determination of those “needs” may not be so simple.

The Gosselins reportedly make $75,000 per episode (and TLC recently ordered 40 more episodes to be made). Jon no longer works outside the home. So, if he were to be ordered to pay child support, the major question would be “what is his income going forward?” If TLC continued the show, filming the story of a divorced couple with eight kids, then the answer would be easy. If the show goes away with the marriage though, Jon no longer makes half of $3,000,000 a year. The court would have to determine his earning capacity in order to set a child support amount.

As Kate seems to be the more media-savvy spouse, I could see her parlaying her fame into continued appearance and book income, even without a show (or selling the idea of a reality show following a single mom with eight kids). Still, her income may not be regular or conducive to speculation and imputation.

All of which brings us to spousal support. Traditionally, spousal support (or alimony or maintenance, depending on your jurisdiction) is awarded to a wife with a lesser-income-producing-capability. Here though, it is very possible that Kate is able to out-earn Jon, post-divorce. In Pennsylvania, alimony (when ordered in a case along with child support) is set at 30% of the difference between the net earnings of each party. If the spouse requesting alimony is found to be “at-fault” for the divorce, alimony can be denied.

So, interestingly, Kate has the potential to be the greater earner and Jon has the potential to be denied alimony due to his alleged adultery. However, if Kate were to negotiate a new “single mom” show, a joint legal custody order would likely require Jon to okay any appearance of the children on the show – this would obviously be a negotiation strength for him in any settlement negotiation or mediation.

I’m sure that Jon Gosselin will hire an aggressive attorney to combat Kate in any possible divorce action. He’ll need all the help he can get – based on Kate’s personality as depicted on the show, I don’t see her letting any of this occur quietly or without a fight.

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