Alienation of Affections.m4v

Adultery and Alimony

Ode to proper procedure.

I read this story somewhere. Maugham maybe? An eighty-year old spinster looks under her bed every night, making sure that nobody is hiding in the dark, ready to attack her in her sleep. One day, she discovers a man hiding there!

Today I feel just like that old bird. For a decade, I have instructed clients to take the 5th, and have obtained non-prosecution letters from the DA, every time adultery is an issue. Proper procedure or waste of time and money, I wondered, doing my obligatory check for the villain under the bed. What do you know -- New York is prosecuting a woman caught having sex in the park with a gentleman friend. Turns out, she is married -- and not to the gentleman friend. It is all true -- including the reported 90 days in jail or $500 fine. If only they have thought to secure a non-prosecution letter.