Asking a Court to Enforce an Illegal Agreement is at Best a Waste of Time

Asking a Court to Enforce an Illegal Agreement is at Best a Waste of Time

      In a recent case from New York, the court rejected efforts by a divorcing spouse to enforce claims on professional LLCs in which he, the husband, was precluded by law from owning. Specifically, the suit dealt with a number of dental practices which the husband served as the business manager. In turn, his wife was the dentist. Under New York law, only a dentist may own a dental practice. Essentially, he wanted the court to say that he had a contractual right to one half of the practices. The court rejected that notion. Savel v. Savel, short form order, index No. 006375-15 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County May 19, 2017).

      Peter Mahler, in his blog New York Business Divorce, reviewed this decision in a posting on November 6 titled Divorcing Husband not Smiling Over Court’s Rejection of Ownership Interest in Wife’'s Dental Practice.  HERE IS A LINK to that post.