Divvy This Huge Take Short Of 50-50

A high-profile jilted spouse is trying to start a real-life first wives’ club. She’s the soon-to-be ex of Gary C. Wendt, president and chief executive of the hugely profitable GE Capital Services.

Gary has amassed an estimated $100 million during his 32-year marriage to Lorna, his high school sweetheart and self-styled “corporate wife.” And Lorna wants half.

Their marriage, she says, was always an equal “partnership.” While Gary applied his financial genius and locomotive energies to a climb up the corporate ladder, Lorna kept the home fires burning and “managed” his career.

The couple started out after college with $2,500. Lorna put Gary through Harvard Business School on her public school music teacher’s salary. She then stayed home to raise their two daughters, now in their late 20s.

Later, Lorna hosted dinner parties at a moment’s notice, orchestrated charity events, gave Gary advice on job applicants, listened to his office woes, accompanied him on exotic trips around the world, relocated five times and more.

Then in 1995, Gary Wendt, 55, decided love had faded and so should Lorna. He filed for divorce and offered his wife an immediate $8 million, in real estate and cash, and an additional $3.2 million over time.

Ninety-five percent of all divorces are privately settled. In those with assets of more than $10 million, supporting spouses (wives) typically receive settlements in the single-digit millions - but less than half - under an unwritten “enough is enough” policy.

Lorna Wendt, 54, has refused to accept “enough.”

Waving a banner of “Equality in Marriage,” Lorna has asked for 50 percent of the marital assets, including Gary’s stock options and pension benefits. She plans to start a nonprofit foundation to benefit first wives like herself.

Last week, the Stamford, Conn., judge who heard the Wendts’ case last December and January postponed it for the fifth time. A 200-page opinion is expected.

Alhough some long-married moguls of high-tech, media-entertainment and Wall Street are sweating it out, the decision is likely to have little trickle-down effect on smaller marital estates.

But it does have social policy undertones. Wendt vs. Wendt squarely challenges changing sex roles and the worth of what used to be known as women’s work. It also puts me on the horns of a dilemma.

Long disposed to valuing the contributions that a non-wage-earning spouse makes to a marriage, ideally a 50-50 division of labor, I just can’t support Lorna Wendt’s contention that her husband’s career was a 50-50 “joint effort.” No matter how supportive Lorna may have been, Gary’s considerable talents, initiative and industry - like those of other successful businesspeople, male and female - made his career.

A corporate King Midas who works 80- to 90-hour weeks, Gary Wendt never stops brainstorming or dealing. Would he have fared as well without Lorna? There’s no telling. But I wouldn’t bet against him.

And yet, Lorna’s contributions to his success count. If she’d had a business partnership with Gary, her percentage of profits would have been negotiated. Instead, she has a marriage in which both spouses made choices that resulted in both sacrifice and reward.

By law, marital property consists of all property acquired during the marriage by either spouse, except for gifts and inheritance.

In the nine community property states, including California and Texas, a husband and wife each own an undivided one-half interest in such property. That is, the 50 percent that Lorna Wendt is advocating. Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements can (and do) alter this arrangement.

In the 41 common law states, such as Connecticut, Virginia and North Carolina, the modern principle of equitable distribution generally prevails. It replaced the whose-name-is-on-the-title, who-paid-for-it marital property scheme that hurt wives. Now, when spouses can’t agree, courts try to divide their assets equitably between them.

Typically, judges start with a 50-50 presumptive split, then apply a list of statutory factors - e.g., the length of the marriage; the age and health of the spouses; the contributions of each spouse to the family’s well-being and to the acquisition of the property - to reach a fair, but subjective, bottom line.

Unquestionably, Lorna Wendt should - and will - get a hefty return on what she calls her “investment.” But contrary to what her feminist advocates say, she is neither a “junior partner” in her marriage nor an equal partner in her husband’s career.

If Lorna Wendt wants to close the gap in equality in marriage, she’ll tell all wives about the risks of divorce. Sad to say, 50 percent of them are going to need to know.

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