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An experienced Carlsbad divorce attorney weighs in on Divorce Corp.

On Behalf of | Feb 5, 2014 | Divorce

Is Divorce Corp, a documentary or simply a case of sour grapes squeezed until they whine.
The director of Divorce Corp, Joe Sorge, was embroiled with his ex-wife in litigation for months prior to directing his “documentary” about divorce. Mr. Sorge divorced his wife and agreed to pay child support, since he earned $800,000 per year.
Some parents believe that if they stop earning money, they can avoid paying child support. After Mr. Sorge initially agreed to pay child support, he sold his business for about one hundred million dollars, thereby eliminating his $800,000 income. A Neutral expert was hired to explain the changes in Mr. Sorge’s income. When the neutral expert’s report presented more than one way to calculate Mr. Sorge’s income, Mr. Sorge threatened to sue that neutral expert in an attempt to limit the information the court received. Mr. Sorge wanted the neutral financial expert to claim that Mr. Sorge had not zero income, but negative income.
The Trial Court then correctly decided Mr. Sorge’s income and ordered that child support be increased from $4,000 per month to $18,000 per month. To put that sum in context, Mr. Sorge spent about $65,000 per month on his own living expenses.
After Mr. Sorge’s threats to sue the expert witness failed, and after Mr. Sorge failed to get what he wanted from the trial court, Mr. Sorge appealed the Trial Court’s decisions and lost. The Trial Court also found that Mr. Sorge engaged in conduct that frustrated settlement and furthered the litigation.
Mr. Sorge’s ex-wife wanted help paying the family law attorneys she had to pay to help her defeat Mr. Sorge’s demands. The Court determined that Mr. Sorge had a superior ability to pay his ex-wife’s family law attorney fees, since his ex-wife had 7.5 million dollars and Mr. Sorge had about 60-70 million dollars. The Court ordered Mr. Sorge to pay his ex-wife’s attorney’s fees in the amount of $200,000. Mr. Sorge appealed the Trial Court’s decision on Family Law Attorney’s Fees issue and lost.
Mr. Sorge chose to spend substantial sums trying to prove that he had no meaningful income, all in an effort to avoid paying his true child support obligation. Then, after he lost, he hired one of the best appellate attorneys in an attempt to unwind the Trial Court’s orders. After spending tremendous sums of money taking unreasonable legal positions and losing, Mr. Sorge’s decided to direct a “documentary” belittling the legal system he tried to exploit.
I’ll let you decide whether Divorce Corp., is a fair depiction of what really happens in a Carlsbad divorce, or whether it was generated by a multi-millionaire who failed to get what he wanted?
An experienced Carlsbad family law attorney could have explained that a parent cannot avoid a child support obligation simply by selling a business for 100 million dollars and pretend to have negative income.

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