California Supreme Court Validates Prenuptial Agreement In Barry Bonds Divorce Case

Jet, Sept 11, 2000

In a ruling in the divorce case of San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, the California Supreme Court said recently that prenuptial agreements are valid even if only one party had a lawyer.

The justices unanimously reversed a lower-court decision last year that made vulnerable thousands of existing prenuptial agreements in California.

Bonds' ex-wife, Sun Bonds, had no attorney when she signed the prenuptial agreement on the eve of their 1988 Las Vegas wedding. In 1999, a state appeals court ruled that it was unlikely a trial court could find the agreement valid.

At the time the agreement was signed, Barry Bonds was earning $106,000 a year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. When the couple divorced after six years of marriage, the outfielder was making $8 million a year with the Giants.

The agreement said future earnings would be kept separate, and it barred claims to community property upon divorce. Under the agreement, Bonds' wife was to receive $10,000 per month in child support for each of their two children, and she was given $10,000 per month in spousal support ending in 1998.