Celebrity Lawyer Uncovers Celebrity Divorce: Part 2

Celebrity Lawyer Christopher C. Melcher, who is ranked as a best family law attorney in California, uncovers the truth about celebrity divorce in part 2 of the Divorce Etc. Podcast.

In part 2 of this episode of the Divorce etc., podcast hosts T.H. and Jessica sit down with Christopher C. Melcher, a top family law attorney in Los Angeles, California. He is a partner of Walzer Melcher Yoda LLP, which is ranked as a best family law firm in California. Chris dives more into how celebrity divorces are often portrayed in the media, PR tactics, Divorce pre and post Covid, Zoom divorces, how to pick a divorce lawyer that is right for you and more.

PR Statements in Celebrity Divorce

Jessica: It seems when most celebrities are splitting up and getting divorced, they’re all putting out a statement that literally is the same template for everyone. ‘We really respect each other. We really love each other. We’ve decided to part ways amicably and continue to be friends.’ Do you feel when we read that, is it literally as rote as we all think it is? Or most of the time is that being genuine and sincere?

Christopher: Oh, it’s disgustingly sweet. I don’t like that. I think people would just be like, yeah, we hate each other. I would just admit to it, okay, and I think it would be more refreshing. We do see those cases, kind of those statements, but to me, obviously, they don’t feel that way because they’re getting divorced. And so I think it’s just mostly trying to buy their privacy saying, hey, nothing to see here. Everything’s good. Let’s move on.

Jessica: As everything’s exploding behind them.

Christopher: Yeah, it has to be. I think that the harder cases are not the celeb on celeb, the power couple, it’s the celeb versus non-celeb because then the non-celeb partner has nothing to lose and everything to gain by having this thing go out longer and basically roasting their partner and saying like, hey, well, maybe we will go to trial. Maybe I will talk about this. Maybe I will make these allegations. It’s essentially a shakedown. Those are the ones to watch and that are more interesting. But the power couples, absent Brangelina, it’s hard to come up with a lot of cases where the laundry was aired.

Jessica: Except for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Like, what is going on there?

Christopher: Yeah, that one. You have two people there that have their struggles that couldn’t get control over this. And so yes, that is another excellent example.

Abuse Accusations in Divorce

Jessica: I was going to say do you feel like there is more, for lack of a better word, opportunity, when it’s a high profile name for someone to start putting out accusations of domestic abuse and things like that, even if it’s not true? I mean, T.H. and I hear about that kind of stuff all the time with regular people.

T.H.: Yeah, setting up the spouse and–

Jessica: I hate to say it, but I think more often than not, it’s the woman setting up the man and the police will end up having to be called and now it’s like, there you go. There’s something on his record. He was taken away for whatever reason. Now that’s going to be a problem in the divorce. Is that a higher risk in celebrity divorces?

Christopher: Well, it is a risk in all cases, but particularly in celeb cases, because people are following it. Then there are downstream consequences. It’s not just like, oh, I know something about this person that’s embarrassing, and I’m going to go and report it to get revenge.

Well, that then may result in that person being fired. If they work for a professional sports team, you may see them being separated and not picked up again. If they’re an actor or whatever, they’re not going to get jobs, and now they are not going to be able to pay support.

T.H.: Right, that affects the whole family, it’s so–

Extortion in Divorce

Christopher: It does. Now, certainly, if somebody is abusive, they do need to be exposed because otherwise we’re just covering and enabling that behavior to happen so they could hurt other people. I’m in no way advocating keeping that type of stuff quiet. But if it’s just the laundry, the embarrassing facts, we do see those being used usually in a letter or some form of mediation, some kind of private setting, hey, I have this. It is extortion a bit.

Sometimes we’ll see the other person come out publicly with it in a court document. It’s like, hey, you just shot your bullet. Sometimes it’s just quiet and the press doesn’t pick it up. No one got fired. No one lost any jobs. It’s like, okay, well, now you have nothing over me anymore. It does have to be handled delicately.

Jessica: Are there reporters that just literally are camped out at the Los Angeles County Courthouse just reading through all of the public divorce documents every day to get those kinds of tidbits and air them?

Press Leaks in Celebrity Divorce

Christopher: Well, I don’t know that they need to because I think that the attorneys leak this stuff. I don’t. I don’t leak because I’m usually representing the celebrity so I’m not authorized to speak, and they have their own team. My job is to keep it quiet, right? I mean, I’m guarding the fort.

But the other side is trying to get this stuff out there. I will read sometimes about my own case in TMZ before I–it’s like, oh, something was filed? Oh, I’m just seeing it in TMZ. I’m supposed to be getting served with this document. Then when you see it, one of the tips for you to see as the public whether this was leaked or not, if it’s a file document, it’s typically going to have court markings. It’s going to be stamped, what we call conformed. A lot of times these leaked documents aren’t conformed.

That means they’re pre-filed documents. Who has that? – The attorney, is the only person who has that because if it was a court leak, it would have the stamp on it. The attorneys do that. And the other way to see that is there’s some kind of unwritten payoff sometimes with the reporters where the attorney will be named in the story. Oh, according to powerhouse attorney, so and so, blah, blah, blah. Well, that’s probably your leaker because that was the unwritten exchange.

Divorce Pre COVID and Post COVID

T.H.: Right. Wow, that’s really shitty. Like it’s not complicated enough? What do you think about, coming through COVID, or still someone in COVID, what’s the biggest difference you’ve seen as far as divorce pre-COVID and now where we are now? I mean, we’ve been through Zoom divorces. There’s a lot of perspective on that, but any big differences and the types of cases that are coming to you? Or is it still the same?

Christopher: Well, I think we’re getting back to normal. It was a really bad place that we were in when the courts locked down or went to limited operations because it was already hard enough to get your day in court or a hearing date. It was very long delays. Then they created this huge backlog when the courts were essentially closed or limited, where you couldn’t even get into court. It was a Wild West at that point, people just saying, I’m not doing the exchange. I’m not paying you money. Nothing. Then we got through that.

Now they’re working through the backlogs. I think the best thing out of all this is the video court appearances that many courts have adopted. Because before, when you have to hire a lawyer, this is extraordinarily expensive to hire these lawyers to come into court and we would sit there. We’d have to drive, and for me, it’s an hour to get to court each way. And then I’d sit there for hours waiting for the case to be called all for a 15-minute hearing. And I’m charging my client five hours for 15 minutes of work.

Now with video, I don’t charge any of that other than the 15 minutes that I’m on with the judge. And so this is now really an access to justice issue which allows people to afford a lawyer to do the work they’re doing. They should not be paying me my hourly rate to drive a car into court or sit in a courtroom. The good thing that came out of the lockdowns was video, and I’m hoping that these courts continue investing in that technology. I’m also hoping that parties and attorneys will continue using that system. My fear is that people want the in-person advantage like: no, no, I want you to go in person. Well, if the other side is in person, then I’ve got to go in person, and then we just lose the whole thing because I love sitting in my office just doing the Zoom court appearances.

Zoom Divorces & Court Appearances

T.H.: Do you think it’s more amicable on Zoom? Do you think that there’s less contention? I mean, is it easier to manage your clients and relationships in court if it’s on Zoom?

Christopher: Well, it’s a great point, because especially with depositions, these compelled statements under oath, they get pretty heated when you’re in person. And so it’s a little hard to scream at the little–I do it sometimes. I lose my mind. But it’s pretty hard to scream at–it’s like a screen. Like, what are you screaming at?

T.H.: It’s like you’re yelling at yourself.

Christopher: Yeah. You kind of see like, wow, this is ridiculous. It does definitely bring the temperature down. It’s a safer spot too. So if we do have an abusive spouse or partner that we’re dealing with, well, now you’re not sitting there within feet of this person, or worse, worrying about getting attacked on the way out of the courtroom. It’s safer for those folks.

A little bit of a risk though is that the relationship between the client and the attorney is harmed a bit because when you’re in person, you can whisper, you could talk, you could trade notes, you see people, and you read the body language. Sometimes we’re having trouble with the clients logging on and they can’t hear, or they don’t mute themselves and they’re just like, ‘That’s a lie! I can’t believe it. You need to stop this!’ It’s like, oh my god. I can’t believe you’re saying this in front of the judge. We still need to work through some stuff.

Jessica: But I feel what I’m hearing you say is anyone who’s out there who’s been thinking about not being happy in their marriage, and has been thinking about the possibility of getting divorced, now’s the time to do it because it’s going to cost you the least amount ever in history because you’re not going to have your lawyer waiting at the courthouse all day. You’re only going to be paying for that billable time that they’re on your Zoom. It’s the most cost-effective, budget-friendly divorce environment ever.

Christopher: Well, it is, and especially with home values being high, this is a great time to be divorced. You’re being bought out at the highest values of everything. But I honestly, joking aside, I hate divorce, and I wish people would find a way to work things out. I wish I would put myself out of business if I had a wish.

How Chris Melcher Got into Family Law

Jessica: Can I just ask you then as we wrap up, what made you go into matrimonial law and family law, to begin with when you first started out?

Christopher: You know that wasn’t my intention. I wanted to do corporate securities law. But when I got out, there was no hiring. The economy was bad, and I kind of was doing criminal defense and some civil litigation. I met this other lawyer who was doing divorce work, and I never thought I would do that, but I saw that, wow, this is a legitimate specialization that you’re involved in people’s very personal affairs and is super interesting.

We never get bored as a divorce lawyer. I thought I’m so happy that I made this choice and that I’m able to assist people in going through not only the legal and financial aspects of it, but also to really understand what their needs are, and moving them out of that point in their life to a better place. It’s a really rewarding profession. But like I say, it’s sad to see the conflict and the inability that a lot of us have in navigating through that. Because again, we’ve never been through that, and it’s very scary. We’re not born with those skills. I enjoy helping people separate fact versus fiction, emotion versus logic, money versus not and moving them forward with this in a way that I’m hoping they have a better outcome.

Chris Melcher’s Contribution to Family Law

T.H.: I think you set a really great standard [totally] for anybody looking to go into this because there are a lot of lawyers. I mean, I live in New Jersey. I live in northern Jersey, and our lawyers were sharks and bulldogs. They were all built-in and you could just leave them alone together. They didn’t even need us. And so really, I mean, I think that that’s a great ability to contribute to the practice of law.

We’ve talked so many times to other attorneys about the laws being outdated in terms of domestic abuse and so many other things. To have someone who’s cutting through the clutter and delivering a message the way you deliver the message is great because somebody else who’s coming from a negative place could say the same words, and it’s just not the same with their voice behind it. The energy isn’t good. I really appreciate you elevating the experience of divorce in a way that I certainly didn’t experience myself. You are making a very positive contribution, so thank you for that.

Christopher: Well, thank you.

Jessica: We do always talk about how the relationship going through a divorce between the client and the lawyer is one of the most intimate relationships you’ll ever have in your life. Because when you think about it, who else in your life that you come in contact with are you literally opening up your guts about everything that’s going on? I mean, this is a person you have to tell your deep, dark secrets to?

How to Pick a Divorce Lawyer

T.H.: Right, they have to know everything.

Jessica: And it has to be someone that you have that level of respect and compassion with and have that vibe. There’s a lot that goes into, I think, the partnership of a client and a lawyer in the divorce process. And so I think that what T.H. just said is totally right, like elevating the standard of expectations. Because I think that over so many years, people have this negative view of lawyers. My dad’s a doctor so we always heard all of the anti-lawyer jokes. Then my sister went to law school so then they were always telling each other the doctor and the lawyer jokes. But it’s true, it’s like, unfortunately, divorce lawyers, I think, get a particularly shit end of the stick. But it’s such an important part of our lives that’s going to not only affect what’s happening at the moment now during the divorce, but the decisions that we make together, client and lawyer, that’s going to have an impact on my life forever with my kids.

T.H.: 100%.

Jessica: And I think that a lot of people don’t have the foresight to look ahead and think about the maximum amount of impact this is going to have. They’re just trying to get through the next court appearance.

T.H.: Right, I mean, we’re 13 years out, and I have stuff creeping up on me now that should have been addressed. But my kids were eight, six, and four. Now they’re 22, 20, and 17. And guess what, who’s paying for them out of college? I mean, you think their salaries support them out of college? Living at home is fine, but you need a car. You need car insurance. There are things that don’t get addressed when they were little, little kids. So yeah, there’s a lot. There’s a lot to unpack. But to have someone like you on their team is really good. I think this is a PSA for new attorneys and for people going through a divorce. This is your public service announcement. Congratulations. You’re welcome.

Jessica: Well, thank you so much for taking the time with us today. We really do appreciate it. We’d love to have you back. We have so many other topics legal that I think your perspective would be really interesting and appreciated. I hope that you will join us again. And thank you everyone for listening. We’ll see you next time.