Can I Get That Kidney Back, You Cheater!
Thursday, January 8th, 2009It’s all over the news today (here and here and here) about a New York surgeon who’s getting a divorce from his wife and asking for the kidney back that he donated to her. He gave her a kidney in 2001 and 18 months later, the husband claims, she’s taking his kidney out with another man. Divorce ensues. Custody issues abound… regarding their three kids. Then Husband sues to get his kidney back… oh, or he’ll take $1.5 Million in lieu of the kidney.
Divorce lawyers in Dallas as well as nationally agree that he’ll probably be unsuccessful in his efforts. “The kidney is a gift, which, under Texas law, would be the wife’s separate property,” says 17-year family law specialist Michelle May O’Neil. “The affair certainly entitles the Husband to a divorce, and he may get an unequal division of the property in his favor because the Wife is a bad actor in the relationship, but he won’t win the lottery as a result.” Husband should have thought about that possibilty before he parted with the organ.
Even so, it makes for good fodder for news media coverage.
