Economy so bad divorce market is drying up

Divorce Gets Harder as Recession Ends Jobs, Cuts Asset Values

By Patricia Hurtado and Laurel Brubaker Calkins

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Irene Georgakis, a housewife in Queens, New York, thought she’d hit bottom on Valentine’s Day 2007 when she learned her husband of 24 years had a girlfriend, a discovery that led to her filing for divorce.

Then the economy nosedived, and things got worse. Georgakis, 54, said her husband, George, 64, owner of five New-York-based companies, is balking at paying support and using the recession to claim poverty after making millions during their marriage.

“He’s the ultimate stonewaller,” Georgakis said in an interview. “It’s galling.”

The Georgakises are among couples in broken marriages fighting the economy in addition to each other as they try to divvy up assets from homes to artworks that have plunged in value. Couples bent on splitting estates have had to redo the math when asset values proved less than they had counted on to split up.