jay106

I'm doing the divorce thing, and the not soon enough ex is seeking a chunk of my 600,000 miles. Anybody know any methods of protecting these. She didn't earn one of these and I have no claim to half of her 100 pair of black shoes

KosherKimchee

Just be glad NJ isnt a community property state!

TransWorldOne

Really, it all depends on how messy you want your divorce to be. And how much money you want to waste paying for legal services (has the Mrs. asked you to pay for her lawyer yet?). The best thing to do might just be to ask her for specific flights she wants booked, book them, hand over the tickets, and be sure to include them in the divorce settlement. If your divorce isn't going down a friendly path, than perhaps you can start making petty demands from her-- like half of her prized knick knack collection .

I guess this is a good reminder for us all to enter into a prenuptual agreement before making that "till death do us part" pledge.

jay106

We are certainly going the knock down drag out way as she filed false assault charges, dropped them but got me booted from the $400k house I bought 10 years ago..Now I pay for it while I go thru the NJ screw.(I get my kids for 4 nights a month, amazing as she cant find 20 minutes for them, hasn't cooked for them more than 5 times in 3 years) Of course I'll have to say half her crap is mine but I'm told it doesn't work that way. Her stuff is all hers and my stuff is half hers. I know I could use some miles by talking a girl to Italy in Feb or something...but...I need a better way..You all know to get 600K miles was a ton of coach back ache, literally. Any ideas how to keep her from this. Thanks

JaredH

Flame away, but what an extreme and unreasonable request.

I can't think of any reason for a spouse to make this claim except plain old malice.

While I have heard of similar claims being made, I haven't ever heard of a court granting a spouse a share of the other's frequent flyer miles.

For one thing, the miles technically belong to CO and they only have value within the CO program. CO determines whether you can transfer or redeem the miles. What belongs to you is the OP membership, but that can't be assigned or divided. I don't know the law in NJ, but none of it seems to be "property."

I am not being facetious, but how could anyone consider OP an asset? They are really more like points you receive in an internal game that CO runs to reward customers.

I suppose the woman also wants 2.5 carwashes from your "buy six carwashes, get one free" card, as well as half of the five percent discount you get from the service station from placing its sticker on your bumper.

What it really comes down to is that your ex-wife is acting in bad faith and I hope your lawyer gets ahold of her ridiculous request.

jh

jay106

Her request is part of standard operating procedure in NJ. It's in the papers she signed, listed under maritial assets, along with our stocks, house, cars etc. Case information sheet I think it's called? The one where she details how she needs more cash than we ever took home (10k/month) to live in the lifestyle she was used to... My lawyer not only sees it and told me it was coming..I'm told I can expect to lose nearly half. Can anybody offer anything? thanks

AKelley728

Good luck in your divorce. I hope that you'll be able to keep your miles somehow. You might want to throw the following OnePass Account rules back at her lawyer:

Account Ownership

You can have only one OnePass account, which is established under your full first and last name (no initials, please). Only you may accrue mileage in your account. You may not transfer or combine mileage between your account and other OnePass accounts, "including those of relatives."

If they find a legal way around the above, then might I suggest the following:

Buy something expensive at the Continental/ebay auction site www.continental.ebaytravel.com .

Redeem three Easypass BusinessFirst awards for your 600k (the awards are around 200k apiece). You don't have to use them, just redeposit the miles after the divorce is finalized.

Setup a Hilton HHonors account and transfer all of your miles over (unless you already have one and she knows about it).

TransWorldOne

jay106,

Sorry to hear things are so acrimonious. Best of luck.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, by the way.

ByrdluvsAWACO

As far as the miles go, liquidate them. Take a FC dream trip with someone special(not a girlfriend you never know how long she'll be around) like your mom, dad, brother, etc.

In your case 600k should get you two dream vacations. Get the account down to less than 45k so she doesn't even get a FC flight anywhere.

------------------
God Bless America West and British Airways

HP - Platinum/800k miles
BA - Dirt/Soon to be Silver
UA - Dirt/19k miles
AA - Dirt/Only using to get BA Tier points/miles.

infiniteflyer

Donate them to charity first!

ORDguy

Jay106

I am sorry for the situation you are in.

As for the miles, if they were earned as a result of employer paid business travel, meaning not paid with marital assets, then those miles should be off limits.

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by ORDguy (edited 11-23-2002).]

Golden Tiger

Isn't there a clause in OnePass that says that the miles are property of Continental Airlines and can be forfeit? My guess is that if it can be forfeit at the whim of another party, it can't really be classified as your own property.

For instance, power of attorney over a company budget for being an officer isn't your property though you may freely spend as the guidelines allow. Your spouse can't take half of that. Does she want half of your friends too? I think the Continental OnePass miles are more analogous to that model than of your own property.

[This message has been edited by Golden Tiger (edited 11-24-2002).]

Golden Tiger

In fact I'm positive you can hit from more than one angle.

a) OnePass miles are not really your property since use, credit and forfeiture of OnePass miles are at the total and complete discretion of Continental Airlines (i.e. they reserve the right to cancel the entire program as they see fit!) and so are really the property of Continental Airlines.

b) OnePass miles have no cash value. That is why all award redemption comes with a simple fee, because there must be legal quid pro quo for the airlines for the ticket they issue you to be a binding contract. In a divorce proceeding, the value of the item is divided, not necessarily the item (i.e. a house, or you keep the left shoe, spouse keeps the right shoe). In this case, half the value of the OnePass miles can be paid, all of $0. Wait, let me check my math again, $0.

Please refer to the OnePass program guide and I would suggest also getting a written affidavit from the General Counsel of Continental Airlines (or, whoever manages the legal department) stating that OnePass miles are the property of Continental Airlines have no cash value.

[This message has been edited by Golden Tiger (edited 11-24-2002).]

Golden Tiger

Mistaken multi post.

[This message has been edited by Golden Tiger (edited 11-24-2002).]

AAExecPlatFlier

But, I have heard -- and I think it was posted in the AA forum a year back or so -- that in a divorce there have been instances of splitting miles and that the airline was somehow bound by the court decree to allocate the miles. If I am not mistaken, it works something like "willed miles."

Maybe post this question on a few forums. This has to have come up before!

Best of luck...