Man sues ex-wife over thousands of shoes

After becoming aware of a 1,200-pair shoe collection worth $1 million, a man in New York is suing his ex-wife for about 35 percent of its value. In California, the alleged hidden assets should have been disclosed and divided during the couple’s divorce, due to the state law that community properties, or those acquired during a marriage, are to be divided equally.

The man, who is a hedge fund manager, is claiming his ex-wife hid the massive amounts of expensive shoes in a secret area and never mentioned to him the assets of designer heels. The couple has been divorced for about three years.

In some states, clothing does not apply as an asset, but thousands of expensive shoes could be decided as an asset, according to a news legal analyst. Other legal experts suggested that the wife should offer to split the physical shoes themselves.

The wife, however, is claiming she has never hidden the shoes, and in fact, has them all on display in a large closet that could not have been secret. In addition, the shoe collection had been featured as part of the television documentary called “God Save My Shoes” with an ABC correspondent. She said she was shocked to hear her ex-husband claimed to have no idea of the amount of shoes that were in her possession.

In response, the husband said he rejects his former spouse’s claim he had known all along about the collection of expensive heels.

The woman, a professional poker player, loves heels to such a great extent that she has a tattoo of a Christian Louboutin stiletto on her body. She said she could not have been able to afford the thousands of shoes she owns without the help of her now ex-husband.

Source: ABC News, “Husband Suing Ex-Wife Over 1,200-Pair Shoe Collection,” Linsey Davis, June 25, 2012