12.05 pm, Sunday November 22 2009

Norman divorce settled, wife gets $100m

13:09 AEST Sun Jun 24 2007
AAP
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Australian golf great Greg Norman has agreed to carve up his $A300 million fortune, with a third going to his estranged wife Laura to end their 25-year marriage.

Despite a bitter and public divorce battle, both Norman and Laura were wearing happy faces.

The former world No.1 golfer, who is in Australia on business, may have had to give up a large share of his fortune, but the agreed settlement has avoided an embarrassing public court appearance for his lover, former tennis superstar Chris Evert.

Norman, 52, also avoided watching his other friends, including another golfing great, Nick Price, and Merrill Lynch boss Robert McCann, appearing in court to give evidence.

Mrs Norman, 57, was in Florida on Friday to appear in person at the Martin County Circuit.

"It's a relief and it's pretty much over and done with," Mrs Norman told Florida's Palm Beach Post newspaper after the hearing.

The vast business empire the couple amassed during their marriage has been carved up under the divorce deal.

The agreement divvies up the $US20 million ($A23.6 million) family mansion in Florida's exclusive Jupiter Island estate, the Norman's Estates Wine company, the popular Greg Norman sportswear line and Great White Shark Enterprises, with its golf course design division, the paper said.

The one unresolved issue relates the tax debt on the seven private jets Norman owned during the marriage.

Mrs Norman's lawyer Jack Scarola told the Post Norman had deferred paying some of the taxes on the jets.

The lawyer said when Norman sells his current jet, a $US60 million ($A70.93 million) Gulfstream G-500, US tax authorities will ask for millions of dollars in tax debt exchanged during the buying and selling of the planes.

The lawyers have asked for Martin County Circuit judge Lawrence Mirman to decide how to split the tax debt during a trial later this year.

When the couple first announced plans for a divorce a year ago it seemed amicable, but became heated after photos of Norman and 52-year-old Evert holding hands in Sydney were published.

Norman and his former flight attendant wife then fought a public battle that intensified in recent months.

Norman drew worldwide headlines when a petition his lawyers filed attacked the impact his wife had on his golf career, which included two British Open and 20 PGA victories.

"The wife did not teach the husband to swing a golf club," the petition from Norman's lawyers stated.

"The wife did not teach the husband to win.

"All of those teachings were the product of diligent hard work by the husband prior to this marriage."

Norman also argued his contribution to raising the couple's two children, Morgan-Leigh, 24, and Gregory, 20, "were extraordinary and far exceeded the contributions of the wife".

 
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