Chapter 8 - THE DEPOSITION
Thursday morning, 10:00 a.m.
The financial deposition for our divorce proceedings took place in the grand conference room of Victoria Sterling’s law firm.
Claire arrived flanked by her lawyer, Steven Meyer. Meyer looked pale, nervous, and utterly overwhelmed. He was holding a briefcase that looked far too light for the sheer volume of legal firepower sitting on our side of the table.
Claire looked like a shell of her former self. Her eyes were sunken, her cheeks hollow, her pristine designer clothes replaced by a simple, wrinkled blouse.
My legal team—Victoria Sterling and three associate partners—sat on my left. I sat in the center, dressed impeccably, calm and composed.
"Let the record reflect," Victoria began, pressing the record button on the digital audio recorder in the center of the table, "this is the emergency financial deposition in the matter of Claire Collins versus Daniel Whitaker."
Steven Meyer cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses with a trembling hand. "Before we begin... my client wishes to make a statement regarding a potential settlement."
"No statements," Victoria said firmly. "This is a court-ordered financial disclosure. We will proceed with the questioning of the plaintiff, Claire Collins."
Victoria turned her eyes onto Claire.
"Mrs. Whitaker... in your initial divorce petition filed on December 24th, you swore under penalty of perjury that your husband’s total annual income was $42,000, and that his total liquid assets amounted to less than $5,000. Is that correct?"
Claire swallowed hard, looking down at the table. "Yes..."
"And when you signed that affidavit, were you aware that your husband was the sole owner of Whitaker Construction, W-Holdings LLC, and Midwest Material Supply?"
"No!" Claire blurted out, tears welling up in her eyes. "He lied to me! He kept it a secret!"
"Mrs. Whitaker," Victoria interjected coldly, sliding a document across the table. "This is a certified copy of a marital financial disclosure agreement signed by you on April 12th, six years ago. Do you recognize your signature at the bottom?"
Claire stared at the paper. Her hand began to shake.
"Read paragraph four out loud, please," Victoria ordered.
Claire’s voice broke as she read: "'I, Claire Collins, acknowledge that my spouse, Daniel Whitaker, is the primary equity owner of Whitaker Construction. At my explicit request, and for the purpose of maintaining privacy within my extended family, I request that all corporate equity remain separate from marital day-to-day accounts...'"
Claire stopped reading. She looked at her lawyer in absolute panic.
Meyer looked at the paper, then looked at Victoria, his mouth agape. "Where... where did you get this?"
"It was drafted by our firm six years ago and notarized by your client’s own personal notary," Victoria said smoothly. "Mrs. Whitaker knew exactly what my client owned. She simply forgot that she had signed a binding post-nuptial agreement protecting those assets in the event of a divorce."
Claire collapsed back into her chair, covering her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Furthermore," Victoria continued, stepping in for the kill, "under Section 8 of the same agreement, any attempt to misrepresent marital assets or engage in false sworn statements nullifies all claims to temporary alimony, spousal support, or equity distribution."
"You... you set me up..." Claire whimpered, looking at me through her tears. "Daniel... you set me up..."
I looked at her with complete detachment.
"I didn't set you up, Claire. I signed that paper six years ago because you asked me to protect you from your family's greed. I kept my end of the bargain. You’re the one who broke the contract when you decided status was more important than humanity."
Victoria closed her briefcase with a loud, definitive snap.
May you like
"We will be filing for an immediate summary judgment dissolving the marriage. Mrs. Whitaker will receive zero alimony, zero corporate equity, and will have twenty-four hours to vacate the property owned by W-Holdings LLC."
Meyer didn't even argue. He looked at Claire, shook his head, and closed his notepad. "Claire... there’s nothing I can do. You signed away every right you had."
