When the Florida couple married, they thought problems would not arise as their marital demands were laid out carefully in a prenuptial agreement.
Yet Ms. Sally Erickson and Mr. Renzie Davidson could not save their marriage.
Now, Ms. Erickson, 61, is suing Mr. Davidson, 62, for divorcing her secretly more than two years ago. The couple married on July 3, 2001. He was a lonely widower living in a sprawling house. She was a divorcee living in an apartment. They signed a prenuptial agreement on the day they married.
In the event of a divorce, each would walk away with what he or she had taken into the marriage. Neither would receive alimony and each would be able to keep any money or belongings that he or she had acquired while married.
Mr. Davidson, a fire department officer until 2001, estimated his net worth to be $617,000. He is now the operator of a home-repair business. Ms. Erickson, a mental health counselor, did not fill out a financial statement.
What comes next in the prenup -- 10 rules on how they would live as a couple -- is more unusual.
Among the rules are:
- She will cook breakfast for him at least three times during weekdays and once during the weekend.
- He will not wake her up on the days that she need not prepare breakfast.
- He has to rub her back and neck for at least five minutes three times during weekdays and once during the weekend.
- Each time she uses the "F" word, she has to do one hour of gardening within seven days of the offense.
- He will pay higher five dollars each time he complains, nags, or makes a fuss about her spending.
Mr. Davidson apparently decided to call it quits 3 1/2 months into the marriage. Ms. Erickson was served notice of the divorce suit, but claimed that her then-husband had a change of heart and dropped the matter.
The case stalled for one half years. Then, in February 2003, he asked for a default judgment in his favor and received it. Ms. Erickson says she did not know about the divorce. And court and county records seem to support her claim. They show that Mr. Davidson was granted an uncontested divorce on February 19, 2003, without his wife's ever appeared in court or filing a single piece of paper.
They also show that, just three months ago, the two of them, as husband and wife, received a $175,000 mortgage on a home. Now, Ms. Erickson claims that her ex-husband had deliberately misled her. Two weeks ago, she sued him for fraud.
Mr. Davidson has not contested her claim.--AP
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