Settlement Reached in McCourt Divorce

Los Angeles - Frank and Jamie McCourt reached agreement today on how to settle their contentious divorce, accepting having their dispute over the ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers resolved in a one-day trial this summer.

Frank McCourt said the agreement represents a victory for both parties and for Los Angeles Dodgers fans.

Attorneys announced the resolution in a brief hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon.

Both sides agreed that Gordon will preside over a one-day trial Aug. 4 to determine if the team belongs exclusively to Frank McCourt or if his ex-wife has a 50-50 ownership under community property.

If Frank wins the ownership battle, he has agreed to pay his former spouse $100 million. She also will own all of their residential properties except for one.

"Jamie will use her best efforts to remove Frank from the mortgages on these properties," the four-page agreement states.

Jamie McCourt also agreed to Frank McCourt's proposed deal with Fox for a long-term television contract and a $385 million loan. Gordon approved the Fox agreement, but it is still subject to a nod from Major League Baseball.

Calls to Commissioner Bud Selig's office were not immediately returned.

The McCourts agreed on spousal support. If Frank McCourt is declared the sole owner of the Dodgers, he will pay her $650,000 a month in support up to $55 million, after which she would receive $325,000 monthly.

"I am pleased for everybody," Frank McCourt said outside court.

Jamie McCourt sounded more reserved: "I am hoping for resolution and I hope this is a step for resolution."

In December, Gordon ruled that a 2004 marital property agreement between the McCourts, in which he claimed sole ownership of the Dodgers, was invalid, in part because it conflicted with other post-nuptial pacts. The judge conducted a non-jury trial over the validity of the post-nuptial agreement last year. The issue was in dispute because there were different versions of the agreement.

One version said the Dodgers are included as Frank McCourt's sole property, but another said the team was community property owned by them both.

According to trial testimony in March 2004, attorney Lawrence Silverstein prepared three documents for the McCourts to sign to enforce their marital property agreement. He said he found an error indicating the Dodgerswere the couple's community property and corrected the typo, making the team Frank McCourt's sole property.

He later decided to have three additional copies prepared, but each of those had the original mistake and went undetected, according to Silverstein.

Both McCourts signed the correct versions together, but the three additional copies that he directed Jamie McCourt to sign later had the error, according to Silverstein.

The lawyer said he later took the copies with the mistakes for Frank McCourt to sign in April 2004. Both McCourts have testified they did not read the incorrect documents closely enough to detect the errors.

Under today's agreement, both McCourt retain the right to any legal claims against Silverstein's firm, Bingham McCutcheon, and any of its lawyers.

The McCourts, who were married for more than 30 years, were officially divorced last October.

Frank McCourt fired his former wife as the Dodgers' chief executive officer the day after the team lost the 2009 National League Championship Series to the Philadelphia Phillies. She filed for divorce five days after her termination.