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By Karen Freifeld
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch appears to be seeking a quiet divorce, based on the lawyer he has chosen and the absence of incendiary allegations, people with knowledge of the case and experience of high-profile New York divorces said.
Divorce papers filed by the media mogul on Thursday comprised a short document saying the marriage is irretrievably broken, according to a person with knowledge of the filing.
The document, which formally starts a divorce action under New York's no-fault law, contains no details of wrongdoing, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That, his choice of lawyer and a series of pre- and post-nuptial agreements all favor a strategy for ending his 14-year marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch as quickly and quietly as possible, the experts said.
"While she might try to get more money somehow, and he might be willing to give it to her because he's got so much money, it seems to me she's bound by all those agreements," said John Vassallo, who has represented rock star Mick Jagger and movie star Harvey Keitel in divorce proceedings.
Ira Garr, representing Rupert Murdoch, was referred to the case through a lawyer at News Corp, the Murdoch media empire, the person with knowledge of the divorce filing said. He may have been hired because of a reputation for settling divorces quietly and because he is friendly with Pamela Sloan, the lawyer representing Wendi Deng, the person said.
Among his previous divorce clients were businessman Donald Trump's former wife Ivana Trump and federal judge Kimba Wood.
Sloan's firm, Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, helped represent actress Katie Holmes in her divorce from actor Tom Cruise. She is also known for achieving high-profile divorces with a minimum of public fuss, according to other New York divorce lawyers.
"Pam is not somebody to call up the New York Post," Vassallo said in reference to the Murdoch-owned tabloid known for its gossip column and screaming headlines.
PRE-NUP, POST-NUP
While New York law almost guarantees a court will grant a divorce, the couple could still fight about finances, who gets their New York apartment and over their two children, Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9, including custody and child support.
Deng has yet to make any kind of public response to her husband's filing. Steven Rubenstein, a spokesman for Murdoch, declined to comment on whether the split could be resolved amicably.
Financial matters are likely to be governed by the agreements the couple signed. "New York is very favorable toward enforcing pre-nups," said William Zabel, an expert on such agreements.
In the Murdochs' case, they signed a pre-nuptial agreement in 1999, in which Sloan represented Wendi Murdoch, and they signed two post-nuptial agreements in 2002 and 2004, the person with knowledge of the case said.
Some divorce lawyers said that if the couple have not agreed on a proposed settlement, there is always the prospect of a public battle, if not one in the courtroom.
There is the possibility that "one wants something the other doesn't want to give," said Miami lawyer Jason Marks, who has represented celebrity clients including baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
The two girls have stakes in the family trust that holds the Murdochs' share of News Corp, but they do not have voting rights, unlike Rupert Murdoch's four grown children from his first two marriages.
The family trust owned 38.4 percent of the voting stock in News Corp as of April 30. Rupert Murdoch owns an additional 1 percent in voting shares. A source familiar with the matter said that Deng does not own News Corp stock on her own or have any voting rights.
In New York, claiming irretrievable breakdown for more than six months is an easy path to an uncontested divorce. Until the law was changed in October 2010, the state only allowed divorce by claiming fault against the other spouse, such as cruel and inhuman treatment, adultery or abandonment.
If the case proceeds without a settlement, it will be assigned at random to one of the matrimonial judges in New York state court in Manhattan. A preliminary conference will be scheduled several weeks after the judge is assigned.
If the case is not resolved before then, the Murdochs will be required to appear in court with their lawyers.
Daniel Jaffe, who represented Rupert Murdoch's second wife, Anna, when they split up after more than 30 years of marriage, said he hoped the divorce would be done "as amicably as the last divorce and settlement was done."
Jaffe said that despite the absence of a pre-nuptial agreement, the whole thing was done in less than a year.
"We finished that divorce in 10 to 11 months," said Jaffe, who is based in Beverly Hills, California. "We had no court appearances. Everything was disclosed amicably."
(Reporting By Karen Freifeld; Editing by Eddie Evans, Martin Howell and Peter Cooney)
LONDON (Reuters) - A smiling Prince Philip, the 92-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, left hospital after 11 days on Monday, slightly earlier than expected, following an operation on his abdomen.
Looking sprightly and in good spirits, the prince walked unaided out of the London Clinic, shaking hands with the staff and waving to onlookers outside, before getting into his car to be driven to Windsor Castle, west of London.
Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, had been taken to hospital on June 6 for the planned operation, the fourth time he had been hospitalized in the last 18 months.
"The Duke has expressed his thanks and appreciation to the medical staff at the London clinic and to members of the public for their good wishes," a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said.
The prince, who was visited by his 87-year-old wife of more than 65 years and other senior members of the royal family during his stay, had been expected to remain at the clinic for two weeks after undergoing what the palace described as an "an exploratory operation following abdominal investigations".
The palace said the results of the operation would be analyzed, while Philip would take a period of convalescence of approximately two months. He is expected to resume engagements in the autumn.
The longest-serving consort of any British monarch and the oldest living great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, Philip has had a number of health issues in recent years.
He was hospitalized for a bladder infection during the queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations last year, and spent Christmas 2011 in hospital where he underwent an operation to clear a blocked heart artery after suffering chest pains.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. entertainer Barbra Streisand on Monday took a swipe at Orthodox Jews in Israel who compel women to sit in the back of buses and assault them for following religious rituals traditionally reserved for men.
"It's distressing to read about women in Israel being forced to sit in the back of a bus or... having metal chairs hurled at them when they intend to peacefully and legally pray. Or women being banned from singing in public ceremonies," she said.
The Oscar and Emmy-winning actress and singer, who is Jewish, was speaking at a ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she was awarded an honorary doctorate.
A public bus system operating in some Israeli cities forces gender segregation in deference to ultra-Orthodox rabbis who have long wielded political power in the Jewish state.
Some of these clerics are also battling against a women's prayer group seeking to liberalize worship at the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. The women wear prayer shawls and read aloud from the Jewish scriptures there, defying a tradition that only men should do so.
Streisand starred in a 1983 film "Yentl" which explores the yearning of Jewish women for religious equality with men.
The Brooklyn-born Streisand, 71, also offered some criticism of her own country's failure to achieve full gender equality.
"I know that solutions don't come easy, and they don't in the United States, where women are still making 80 cents for every dollar that a man makes," she said.
During her visit to Israel, Streisand will also sing at a 90th birthday celebration for President Shimon Peres and will perform at two concerts in Tel Aviv.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, editing by Gareth Jones)
By David Jones
NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A U.S. magistrate judge sentenced Grammy-winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill to three months in prison, three months in home confinement and a $60,000 fine on Monday for federal tax evasion.
Hill pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million of income between 2005 and 2007 and faced up to three years in prison.
Hill has attributed her failure to pay taxes to years of pressure she experienced as a recording star while raising six children, forcing her to go underground and stay out of the public eye.
On the eve of her scheduled sentencing, Hill paid $504,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and another $420,000 to the state of New Jersey, her attorney told the court. She still owes another $285,000 in interest and penalties.
"When the government is asking for 36 months and the judge gives three months, I think the judge gave a fair and reasonable sentence," Hill's attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 30 months to the maximum of 36 months.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo cited Hill's lack of a criminal record, her six children and her repayment of the back taxes as mitigating factors in the sentence.
Hill must report on or before July 8. Her attorney asked the court to assign the native of South Orange, New Jersey, to a facility close to home. The three months of home confinement following the prison stay is part of one year of supervised probation.
Hill told the court she pulled away from society because her life was in crisis, received veiled threats and was blacklisted because she did not conform to the norms of the music industry.
"I was being perceived as a cash cow, not a person," Hill said.
A new single by Hill, her first in several years, called "Neurotic Society," was posted on iTunes on Friday.
"Here is a link to a piece that I was 'required' to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline," her Tumblr social media page said on Saturday.
Her lawyers confirmed that she signed a new contract with Sony Worldwide Entertainment and was working on her first album of new material in more than a decade.
Hill's seminal 1998 solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" won the singer, a former member of the Fugees rap trio, five Grammy awards.
(Editing by Daniel Trotta, Andrew Hay and Philip Barbara)
