The $364 Million Word: Lawyer Admits to Changing One Word in McCourts’ Post Nuptial Agreement but Its a Biggee

Frank McCourt, who bought the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in 2004 for $355 million and his soon to be ex-wife Jamie McCourt signed a post nuptial agreement that is now the subject of litigation in their acrimonious divorce.  According to a story in Forbes on April 7, 2010, the Dodges are worth $727 million.  When the McCourts signed their post nuptial agreement in which they agreed on how to divide their property in a divorce, the document said that the Dodgers was community property owned equally by each spouse.

After the parties signed the document Los Angeles Times reports that  “[Attorney Larry] Silverstein changed the word ‘exclusive’ to ‘inclusive’ to indicate the Dodgers were Frank’s sole property and not subject to California community property law.”  The lawyer admitted in court testimony that he changed the word without the prior knowledge or consent of either party.  Can you spell M A L P R A C T I C E!

The court must decide if the post nuptial agreement should contain the word “inclusive” or the word “exclusive.”  The answer is worth $364 million or $182 million for the two letters “in” vs. “ex.”

See “Dodgers Owner McCourt’s Wife Didn’t Want to Co-Own Team, Lawyer Testifies” and “Mediation scheduled in McCourt divorce case.”