Rep. Grayson Avoids Dividing Marital Assets In Divorce After Showing His Marriage Was Bigamous

There is an interesting twist in the messy divorce of Congressman Alan Grayson (D, Florida) this week after his lawyers pulled off a challenge that you usually see in movies: the secured an order dismissing any division of marital assets with his wife Lolita because she was found to have been previously married. Since his marriage was invalid on bigamy grounds, there was no marriage and thus no marital assets. That is a considerable blow for Lolita who sought part of Grayson’s $30 million estate. She has four minor children with Rep. Grayson.

Rep. Grayon insists in papers that “Unbeknownst to Mr. Grayson, Ms. Grayson was married and remained married to another man …up to and after the parties conducted an apparent marriage ceremony on April 28, 1990.” He says that, four years after their marriage, Lolita “secretly participated” in a divorce from her first husband, Robert Carson.

The surprising allegation was the latest in a truly horrific divorce where Rep. Grayson referred to his ex-wife as a “gold digger”. On March 1, police were called to their house after Rep. Grayson’s wife accused him of shoving her against a door and required her to fight him off. Grayson then released a videotape that he says shows Lolita as the aggressor. The video was shot by one of Grayson’s aides. He then accused her of defamation, libel, slander and abuse of process. He is also accused by her lawyers of trying to have her arrested for credit card fraud.

After succeeding in proving his marriage bigamous, Rep. Grayson is moving to deny Lolita custody of their children and is seeking reimbursement for “all of the money and property she has received” during their “purported” marriage. This includes $15,000 in damages as well as exclusive use of the family’s home and their 1981 DeLorean.

In the meantime, Lolita (who married Rep. Grayson in 1990) has said that she is living on public assistance after Rep. Grayson cut her off financially.

Grayson has had an impressive career, including lecturing at George Washington University. He has shown both considerable intellect and skills in a remarkable series of accomplishments. He worked his way through Harvard College as a janitor and nightwatchman and finished summa cum laude with a degree in economics in 1978. In 1983, he earned a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and a Masters of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is an accomplished economists and an expert on gerontology. He also clerked for both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia while they were on the D.C. Circuit. That is a background in law and business that anyone would relish.

Moreover, none of this controversy over the bigamy or divorce appears to have affected Grayson’s political ambitions or position. On July 9, 2015, his announced his candidacy for the United States Senate.