The Divorce Papers: A Novel (4 page)

1. The Client shall pay to the Attorneys
$6,000.00
as an initial retainer in this matter, and, in consideration of this payment, the Attorneys agree to perform legal services as herein provided.

2. The initial retainer paid by the Client shall be applied against legal services actually performed for the Client by the Attorneys (as well as any attorneys working under their direction). There shall be no minimum fee. The services shall be charged at the hourly rate of $
150.00
.

3. Hourly time charges for legal services performed include but are not limited to: court appearances; office conferences; telephone conferences; legal research; depositions; review of file materials and documents sent or received; preparation for trials, hearings, and conferences; and drafting of pleadings and instruments, correspondence, and office memoranda.

4. The Client shall in addition pay for all out-of-pocket disbursements incurred in connection with this matter, including but not limited to: filing fees, witness fees, travel, sheriff’s and constable’s fees, expenses of depositions, toll calls and faxes, and investigative expenses. The Attorneys agree to obtain the Client’s prior approval before incurring any disbursement in excess of $
150.00
.

5.
The Client shall pay the initial retainer to the Attorneys no later than:
April 1, 1999
. The Attorneys shall provide the Client with an itemized statement of services and out-of-pocket disbursements on
July 1, 1999
, and every
three
months thereafter. In the event the time charges and/or out-of-pocket disbursements of the Attorneys exceed the initial retainer, the Attorneys shall submit additional itemized billings on the first business day of the month, payable by the Client within 30 days of the billing date.

6. Accounts not paid by their due date shall be subject to interest at the rate of 1.5% per month until paid. Failure to pay billings promptly will permit the Attorneys after notice to the Client to terminate the Attorneys’ representation of the Client, and the Attorneys shall be entitled to file a notice of withdrawal in any pending judicial action.

7. If the total cost of the legal services performed by the Attorneys shall be less than the amount of the initial retainer paid by the Client, the balance shall be refunded to the Client.

8. The Court may award counsel fees to one party and order the other party to pay the amount awarded. Alternatively, the parties, to avoid a contested trial, may agree by settlement contract to provide that one of the parties will contribute an agreed amount toward the other party’s legal expenses.

a. No representation is made in this Agreement that any contribution by the other party will be obtained toward the Client’s legal expenses.

b. In the event a contribution is obtained from the other party for the benefit of the Client, the amount in question shall be credited against the Attorneys’ final bill to the client.

9. This Agreement represents the full and complete agreement between the Attorneys and the Client as to the terms of the Attorneys’ representation of the Client in the matter described. There are no exceptions.

1    
TRAYNOR, HAND, WYZANSKI

2    222 CHURCH STREET

3    NEW SALEM, NARRAGANSETT 06555

4    (393) 876-5678

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6    

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Intake Interview

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10  
Interview Subject:
Maria Meiklejohn Durkheim

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Interviewer:
Anne Sophie Diehl

12  
Date:
March 17, 1999

13  
RE:
Legal Separation and Divorce

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15  
Transcription by:
Hannah Smith

16  
Date:
March 18, 1999

17-32  

33  Q.
Good morning. I’m Sophie Diehl. David Greaves, your

34  father’s lawyer, asked me to meet with you this morning. I am

35  an associate with the firm.

36  A. Hello, I’m Maria—Mia—Durkheim, née Meiklejohn.

37  Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.

38  Q. Not at all. I would like to tape this interview, if that’s all

39  right with you, to have an accurate record.

40  A. That’s fine.

41  Q. How can I help you?

42  A. On February 15th—here are the papers—my husband,

43  Daniel Durkheim, Dr. Daniel Durkheim, had his lawyers,

44  the scumbag firm of Kahn & Boyle, serve me with a summons

45  for divorce, I think that’s what it’s called, while I was having

46  lunch at Golightly’s on Cromwell. I can’t believe that’s

47  standard practice, no? The University Club perhaps, maybe

48  the Plimouth or the New Salem Cricket Club, but Golightly’s?

49  Your grandmother’s restaurant. That cozy bastion of linen

50  tablecloths, padded booths, hotel silver plate. I was with

51  a colleague, not even a friend, when this damp, cringing

52  person sidled up to me and asked if I was Maria Meiklejohn

53  Durkheim. I said I was. He handed me the summons, then

54  backed away. I thought at first, stupidly, it was the wine

55  list. When I saw what it was, I almost fell into my Niçoise.

56  I thought I’d black out. Pulling myself together, I realized

57  my colleague was staring at me. Other people too. I sat up

58  straight, called the waiter over, and ordered a bottle of Pouilly-

59  Fuissé. “I feel like celebrating,” I told my colleague. “My

60  treat.” It was an extreme test of my savoir faire. Even now it

61  makes me catch my breath. Can you believe it?

62  Q. I can. I’m a criminal lawyer. Bad behavior doesn’t

63  surprise me. But I’ve never heard of anyone else being served

64  at a restaurant.

65  A.
I got served at a restaurant. Ha. I suppose I should return

66  service on a squash court. The Cricket Club. I wouldn’t

67  mind smashing him—or those scumbag lawyers. What do

68  I do now? It’s been at least a month. I didn’t say anything

69  to my husband for several days, then I wrote him an acid

70  note, threatening to have him served during a speech he was

71  planning to give at the annual Pediatric Oncology conference

72  in Boston. I have a copy. Would you like it?

73  Q. Yes, I would. Did you actually carry out the threat?

74  [Note to Hannah: I’m placing the letter in the file.]

75  A. Oh, no. It’s been my experience that there’s no need to

76  carry through on a well-crafted threat with upper-middleclass

77  types. The purpose is to wrong-foot them, raise their

78  blood pressure, gin up their anxiety level. I kept imagining

79  him looking up all the time as he was reading his paper, to see

80  if a sheriff’s deputy was closing in on him. I thought I had a

81  good chance of ruining the conference for him. I think I may

82  have. Of course, he never said anything. Nor did I.

83  Q. Is it only on the upper-middle classes that threats alone

84  work?

85  A. I can’t say for everyone, but with the rich, you have to

86  carry through or they don’t take you seriously. My father

87  would tell you that.

88  Q. Other than the threats, have you done anything?

89  A. What do you mean by “done”?

90  Q. Have you responded more formally?

91  A. No. That’s why I came in today. I’m guessing I need to

92  make some sort of response. What should I do now?

93  Q. Ah. The usual next step is to retain a lawyer to represent

94  you. You may wish to consult more than one, to determine

95  who will provide you with the services you need for a fee you

96  judge reasonable.

97  A.
When it comes to lawyers, I trust my father, and he says

98  Traynor, Hand is the best there is. Consider yourself retained.

99  Tell me what your fee is. I’ll pay it.

100  Q. Oh, I am not the lawyer you want to retain. David asked

101  me to fill in this morning for Fiona McGregor, who’s on

102  holiday. We have terrific divorce lawyers in the firm. Besides

103  Ms. McGregor, there’s Felix Landau, who is in court today,

104  and David, too, because he can do anything. I’ve never done

105  a divorce.

106  A. Somehow, I find that reassuring. It’s my first divorce too.

107  Q. But I’m a criminal lawyer.

108  A. Just what I need for Ray Kahn.

109  Q. Don’t worry about him. 90% blowhard. Let’s look at

110  these Divorce Work Sheet: Summary Biographies. We can go

111  over them together, and I’ll explain Narragansett divorce law

112  as best I can. But why don’t we start by my asking you some

113  questions about you, your husband, your marriage, and your

114  daughter, yes?

115  A. Shoot.

116  Q. How old are you? How old is your husband? How long

117  have you been married?

118  A. I’m 41. Daniel is 52. We’ve been married for 16 years,

119  since 1982. But we lived together for 2 years before that.

120  Daniel was married when I met him, to Helen Fincher. They

121  were married in 1974, separated in 1980—there was a bit of an

122  overlap, I’m afraid, with Helen and me, tacky, I know—and

123  divorced in 1982, a New York record, I believe. She has so

124  much family money, it wasn’t an issue, and then she couldn’t

125  stand him. I didn’t understand that; I thought he was the most

126  wonderful person I’d ever met. Our opinions are probably

127  more aligned now.

128  Q. Were there any children from your husband’s first marriage?

129  A.
Sorry, yes, a son, Thomas Maxwell Durkheim. Tom.

130  He’s 22 now. He was born in 1976. An Amherst grad.

131  Lovely boy, much easier, kinder, sweeter than his father, or

132  his mother for that matter. Bad asthma, bad lungs since he

133  was a baby. Premature. He’s working now on Wall Street, at

134  Fincher & Morgan, his grandfather’s firm. Daniel paid no

135  alimony to Helen, only child support, $15,000/year, until

136  Tom was 18. It stayed the same throughout. Then he paid for

137  college. Theoretically. Mather pays 50% of college tuition for

138  its employees, which with Amherst, I think its tuition was

139  $24,000; he only had to pay $12,000, plus room and board,

140  another $8,000. Not much for a man making $300,000 plus

141  a year. [Pause] I’m sounding bitter—and common. I’ll pull

142  myself together.

143  Q. Did Thomas live with his mother? Or with you and your

144  husband?

145  A. He grew up in New York City and lived with his mother.

146  When we lived there—we moved to New Salem in ’91,

147  when Daniel was appointed Chair of the Pediatric Oncology

148  Department here at Mather Med—we saw a lot of him. We

149  saw less of him after we moved. He was 14. Daniel is a bit

150  rough on him. Tom wants his dad’s good opinion, but also

151  thinks Daniel can be a prick. Can I say something like that?

152  You don’t mind, do you? You must have heard worse. I don’t

153  think they’ve seen each other since Christmas. I don’t know

154  what Daniel has said to Tom about our separation. I asked

155  him last week how Tom was taking it. “Taking it?” he asked.

156  “You’re not his mother. What difference should it make to

157  him?” Eighteen years, since he was three, and his father

158  thinks it means nothing. [Pause] I don’t know what Tom

159  is thinking. I’ve spoken to him twice now. He doesn’t give

160  anything away. He doesn’t want to talk about himself, only

161  
asks how Jane and I are doing. He’s stoical and doesn’t expect

162  too much of his parents. Helen’s got a leg up on Daniel. She’s

163  already married to her third husband.

164  Q. Can you give me some financial history of the marriage?

165  A. When we met in 1980, I was working as an assistant

166  editor at
Femina
magazine. Do you remember
Femina
? It

167  believed in good clothes, good haircuts, and good books. I was

168  making $28,000, which wasn’t bad for that kind of job. Daniel

169  had finished school; he has an M.D./Ph.D. from Columbia

170  but was only making $23,000, as a resident, working 90 hours

171  a week at Presbyterian Hospital. All of his salary, after taxes,

172  went for child support. But at least he had no med school

173  debt. M.D./Ph.D.’s are fully funded. Our rent was $325;

174  we had a Columbia apartment, on baja Claremont. It was a

175  serious comedown for him. When he was married to Helen,

176  they lived off Central Park West on West 69th. But he was

177  never home, and I didn’t mind it. My father might have given

178  us some money, but his money always comes with strings;

179  I didn’t think it was worth it. Except, he did give us each

180  $10,000 a year as a gift once we married. And then after Jane,

181  our daughter, was born, he gave her $10,000 a year too.

182  Q. Tell me about Jane.

183  A. She’s perfect. She’s 10 years old, almost 11. She goes to the

184  Peabody School, where I went and everyone in my family went,

185  back to the egg. My mother was a trustee and her mother and

186  her grandmother were trustees. We are old, old New Salem.

187  My mother was a Mather and Granny was a Peabody. I don’t

188  she was a Maria. We are all Marias, from mother to daughter,

189  back to my Great Great Great Gran, whose mother’s first

190  name was Humility. The family was, is, horribly ingrown. Up

191  through my mother’s generation, you couldn’t marry outside

192  the
magic circle. My father didn’t really belong; his family

193  were latecomers, upstart 19th-century immigrant Scottish

194  merchants, but they’d gone to the right schools and weren’t

195  Catholics. My mother’s full name was Maria Maple Mather

196  Meiklejohn. Her family nickname was 4M. My full name is

197  Maria Mather Meiklejohn. [Pause] Durkheim. I need to ditch

198  that. In school, I was called 3M or Scotch, for Scotch Tape.

199  Daniel used to say my family went back to the
Mayflower
and

200  his to the ark. I never imagined I’d be back in New Salem. I

201  thought I had escaped. I was working on becoming—rather

202  successfully, I thought—a New York Jewish intellectual. Here,

203  I’m seen as part of the cotillion crowd.

204  Q. Are you working?

205  A. I’m a writing tutor at Mather. I decided to get my Ph.D.

206  in American studies when we moved here. The only publisher

207  in town is the Mather Press, and I wasn’t interested in

208  publishing foreign-language translations, which is what they

209  mostly do. Their big project now is a complete translation by

210  a French/American couple of
Remembrance of Things Past
.

211  Did you know no one has ever finished translating all seven

212  volumes? They all die mid-series; it’s like a curse. Have you

213  read Proust?

214  Q. No. My mother is French, and if I ever read it in English,

215  instead of French, which would do me in, she would be very

216  disapproving. So I don’t read it at all. You?

217  A. I’ve read the third book,
The Guermantes Way
. Bill

218  Pritchard, Tom’s English professor at Amherst, said to start

219  there, then go backward. But I couldn’t.

220  Q. Are you making progress with your Ph.D.?

221  A. I finished my course work in 1996. For my thesis, I’m

222  working mostly on Jacob Riis but also on other late 19th-/

223  early 20th-century American journalists, photojournalists,

224  
muckrakers. This divorce thing has thrown me off. I can’t see

225  making much progress this year. Some days, getting out of

226  bed is a serious challenge. I do manage to do my job, but it’s

227  a struggle, and it’s only four afternoons/evenings a week, 16

228  hours altogether.

229  Q. Do you make a living wage as a writing tutor?

230  A. Oh, no. I make $14,000, which is a scant $1,000 more

231  than Jane’s tuition. Last year Daniel made $370,000, 25 times

232  as much as I. These are things I think of when I think about

233  divorce. My lack of resources. I don’t worry about it exactly—

234  my father won’t let Jane and me starve—but I would hate

235  having to ask him or Daniel for money. Too humiliating to

236  have to keep going back to the trough.