Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced that he and wife Dianne Bentley have filed a divorce settlement with the court Monday.
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“During my marriage to my husband our likes, dislikes and lifestyles have become so different that it has caused discord and arguments in our home”. Dianne is to make copies, and the governor must pay for the cost.
“I know that we can not live together again and that our separation is now permanent”.
Judge Elizabeth Hamner, a Bentley appointee who originally oversaw the divorce and sealed the record, recused herself in mid-September.
The court record did little to shed light on the specific differences that led to the marriage’s disintegration, but indicated that the governor disagreed with the contention that the marriage was beyond fix.
The governor’s office says they agreed to a settlement and filed it Monday. The governor, however, says he denies every other allegation in the complaint.
However, the governor did not fight the divorce proceeding. Among the specific details, Bentley must pay his ex-wife $750 in alimony, give up two beach homes in Gulf Shores and pay for part of her attorney’s fees.
Under the final settlement the governor will get the family home in Tuscaloosa, but Mrs. Bentley won’t have to move out until December 2017.
The former couple will split a retirement account.
The governor retains ownership of property he owns in Shelby County.
As for any investments the Bentley’s made, Dianne is getting the Fidelity investment account.
If you’re looking for juicy details of the governor’s divorce, they’re not there. The agreement covered everything from firearms to Alabama Crimson Tide football tickets to a lawnmower.
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Dianne Bentley said that she and the governor had become incompatible and that a divorce was in the best interest of their family. “I am truly blessed and deeply honored to serve as your governor”. I have asked Judge Philip Lisenby to unseal settlement documents so the public and the media will have full access to it. While a judge declined a motion filed by multiple Alabama media outlets to unseal the Bentley divorce proceedings, the documents were, non-the-less, unsealed.
