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June 01, 2004

ok, this is bugging me

so i'm now almost all the way through my twice-yearly S&TC marathon, and this time one thing i paid particular attention to was charlotte's divorce settlement.

harry gets her the apartment... but there's no place where she gets money or an income. yet, she doesn't have to work and still maintains a wealthy lifestyle.

maybe she got standard alimony or something? when they go over the terms of the pre-nup in the coffeeshop, it's clear she gets no money until five years, and they definitely didn't make it that long.

maybe when she sold the apartment she made so much money that she could live off the difference between the old and new places?

maybe we're supposed to fantasize that trey is giving her an allowance out of the goodness of his heart?

i realize it's almost certainly just a writing problem, but given that many of the money things are plot points, it's bothersome.

Posted by lisa at June 01, 2004 08:58 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Minor S&TC connection to this area: Evan Handler (the actor who plays the bald husband of one of the women - the ones who want to adopt a kid) has parents in Fearrington Village. Evan's 1997 memoir "Time On Fire" recounts his battle with leukemia. His brother, Lowell, has Tourette's syndrome and published a 1998 memoir titled "Twitch and Shout." Their father, Murray, is a wonderful artist who can't believe his sons both published memoirs before he did. My own dad does not have this problem.

Posted by: Phil on June 2, 2004 12:57 AM

they did have some sort of settlement where she was worth a million dollars (i haven't seen the episode w/ the prenup lately, so i forget the details). i think that was not related to whether or not she had a child.

Posted by: alicia on June 2, 2004 09:06 AM

the way that worked was, the total amount she could get was a million (she negotiated with bunny for that amount), and they had her on a vesting schedule-- she would get a percentage of 1 mil for each five years of marriage. normally the way that would work is that should would get nothing until they'd been married for five years. even 1/5 of 1 mil isn't that much-- barely a year's living expenses for the kind of lifestyle she lives.

even if she'd gotten a million, she'd have to do some very clever investing to turn that into a lifetime income.

they had a bonus for each MALE child she produced, but that wasn't connected to the million.

Posted by: lisa on June 2, 2004 09:51 AM

oh-- her ring. that was definitely an asset, probably worth around $30k. but she loaned that money to carrie so carrie could buy her apartment.

Posted by: lisa on June 2, 2004 09:53 AM

which, btw, seems to indicate that carrie's apartment cost around $300,000, assuming a 10% down payment. ouch!!! she says at one point that she's paying $750 a month for it as a renter, which is a totally insane steal. the mortgage payment on $300k is probably 3x that much, going by what i paid for my house and what my mortgage payment is like.

Posted by: lisa on June 2, 2004 09:55 AM

ah, i was wondering just the other day how carrie had managed to buy that apartment--i forgot charlotte helped her out. sounds like i need a satc marathon of my own!
i always figured trey was pretty generous and it was just never mentioned. he was a nice guy, more or less.
by the way, the offer of lending you the last half of season six still stands . . .

Posted by: alicia on June 2, 2004 10:04 AM

yeah, i think under-the-table generosity from trey is the most plausible explanation. if he'd been willing, they could have adopted and kept the marriage together, and he was also the one who suggested that she quit her job-- so ethically he really was responsible for her financial situation.

i may take you up on that offer when i get back from roswell!

Posted by: lisa on June 2, 2004 10:11 AM

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