Palimony Pays for ‘Third Marvin’--Their Attorney
An update on the three Marvins of the celebrated case:
The man called “the third Marvin” in the case that established palimony rights for live-in lovers, attorney Marvin M. Mitchelson, 57, lost money on the landmark case but has gotten rich on its progeny.
After all the appellate opinions had settled, Lee Marvin kept the $3.6 million he earned during the couple’s time together; Michelle Triola Marvin, 48, got nothing, and Mitchelson lost the nearly $100,000 it cost to try the case.
“But I have made millions out of it,” he said in his antique- and art-filled Century City office with the candor and charm that has made him a popular speaker and talk-show guest.
A divorce lawyer who had handled international divorces in England and Italy before Marvin’s famous case, Mitchelson says the palimony exposure “multiplied business dramatically.”
With the assistance of four attorneys, he now juggles about 50 cases at any given time, 40% of them outside California, and he has cases pending in 28 states. Charging $250 an hour, Mitchelson prefers to work on a 25% contingency basis or negotiated share of the result, and he charges retainers of $15,000 to $75,000 for divorces and $10,000 to $15,000 for palimony.
Largest Palimony Award
Palimony cases are a quarter to a third of his business. He has had inquiries from nearly 1,000 prospective palimony litigants in the 10 years since he made the cases possible, and he has accepted about 200, trying half a dozen of the cases--winning some, losing some--and settling the others out of court.
He recently won what he believes is the largest palimony settlement to date--$3.5 million--in Sonoma County Probate Court. His client was Pat Miramontez, who had lived with Korbel winery founder Adolph Heck for 24 years.
Heck had willed her only two pieces of property, which had been sold before his death, and a $50,000 insurance policy if she did not contest the will. Before Mitchelson stepped in, most of the estate was destined for the wife Heck never divorced, and their three children.
Actor Lee Marvin is starring in a soon-to-be-released movie, “Delta Force,” and lives in Tucson with his second wife, Pamela.
Michelle Triola Marvin, 48, who legally changed her surname to that of her live-in lover’s but never married him, now works in public relations and lives in the Los Angeles area with comedian Dick Van Dyke.
