Winnie Hartman's Legendary Career & Current Plight
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WINNIE HARTMAN’S UPDATED STORY
OF HER LEGENDARY CAREER AND CURRENT PLIGHT
Winnie, my mother, is a very remarkable human being. She is a master voice teacher with students that have made it on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala Opera, as well as Amy Adams who became famous in film. Even her many students who did not hit the big time have had their lives enriched by studying with her. She tries to see the good in everyone and always tries to make the world a better place. While this is a laudable life philosophy, it can be a problem when trusting people who don’t deserve that trust. Such people are the cause of her current plight.
Winnie remarried into a step family where her new husband had two sons from a previous marriage and eventually a grandson – all of whom are the primary source of Winnie’s current problem. Being the wonderful person she is, Winnie embraced her husband’s sons as part of her family. On the other hand, her husband never viewed Winnie’s sons from a previous marriage as part of his family. It was NOT a marriage made in Heaven.
To make matters worse, even though the husband made Winnie pay half of all expenses, he did not feel like Winnie was worthy of receiving any benefit from her contribution to the marriage. In his view, the entire marital estate was exclusively his. He did not put her name on the title of the house they lived in (which was the main marital asset). The marriage was lopsided, unjust, and inequitable from Day One. Other than his sense of entitlement, the husband also hated Winnie’s sons, and did not want to see them get a single penny from the marital estate – even though half of the estate was Winnie’s according to Colorado Law.
More than five years ago, the step family tried to talk Winnie into signing a “Marital Agreement” where she would waive ALL of her marital rights. When that didn’t work, they began draining the marital assets out of the cash accounts by gifting each other $10,000 checks almost 4 years ago. This is not speculation on our part, we have actual evidence of this. Winnie had no choice but to file for divorce to freeze the assets and let a judge decide what a fair division of the marital assets would be. Winnie filed for divorce in January of 2017 – NEARLY 4 YEARS AGO!
The step family has been extremely unreasonable every step of the way, trying to delay the divorce court hearing as long as possible. Their attorney filed continuance after continuance to keep kicking the can down the road. Finally, the judge put his foot down and said no more continuances. The hearing finally took place in September of 2018 – 21 MONTHS AFTER THE DIVORCE WAS FILED!
The judge awarded Winnie $550,000, which was slightly less than 50% of the marital estate. The step family did not like that, because they felt they should get 75% and Winnie should only get 25%, so they delayed yet again by filing an appeal with the Appellate Court. The attorneys haggled back and forth in a very contentious way (which is how attorneys make the most money), and finally submitted their final briefs to the Appellate Court in August of 2019. Then began the ponderous process of waiting 6 to 9 months for the Appellate panel of judges to read the case and render a decision. The decision came in April of 2020. There were 4 points they wanted clarified, so they sent the case back to District Court which will be in October 2020. Unfortunately, Winnie will be completely out of money BEFORE October.
Here is how unreasonable the step family has been. During the appeals process, they offered to settle out of court if Winnie would drop $200,000 from what she had been awarded, and settle for $350,000. That was a bad joke and was dismissed out of hand. But, they have become even more unreasonable. Prior to the upcoming court date, they offered to settle if Winnie drops $350,000 and settles for $200,000. UNBELIEVABLE! All the love and trust that Winnie gave to that step family means nothing to them. Her trust in them was misplaced.
The Go Fund Me campaign has been a success so far. An anonymous donor sent money outside the Go Fund Me system, so we have already achieved the initial goal of $15,000. However, with paying the divorce attorney $5,000, and her assisted living facility $5,000 per month, all that money is already spent. So, I am trying to revive the Go Fund Me campaign, and am asking people who have already donated to contribute again if they can afford it. If not, please tell your friends, family, and acquaintances, and convince them to participate. It will be greatly appreciated. Winnie deserves much better than what she has been getting in the current set of circumstances.
OF HER LEGENDARY CAREER AND CURRENT PLIGHT
Winnie, my mother, is a very remarkable human being. She is a master voice teacher with students that have made it on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala Opera, as well as Amy Adams who became famous in film. Even her many students who did not hit the big time have had their lives enriched by studying with her. She tries to see the good in everyone and always tries to make the world a better place. While this is a laudable life philosophy, it can be a problem when trusting people who don’t deserve that trust. Such people are the cause of her current plight.
Winnie remarried into a step family where her new husband had two sons from a previous marriage and eventually a grandson – all of whom are the primary source of Winnie’s current problem. Being the wonderful person she is, Winnie embraced her husband’s sons as part of her family. On the other hand, her husband never viewed Winnie’s sons from a previous marriage as part of his family. It was NOT a marriage made in Heaven.
To make matters worse, even though the husband made Winnie pay half of all expenses, he did not feel like Winnie was worthy of receiving any benefit from her contribution to the marriage. In his view, the entire marital estate was exclusively his. He did not put her name on the title of the house they lived in (which was the main marital asset). The marriage was lopsided, unjust, and inequitable from Day One. Other than his sense of entitlement, the husband also hated Winnie’s sons, and did not want to see them get a single penny from the marital estate – even though half of the estate was Winnie’s according to Colorado Law.
More than five years ago, the step family tried to talk Winnie into signing a “Marital Agreement” where she would waive ALL of her marital rights. When that didn’t work, they began draining the marital assets out of the cash accounts by gifting each other $10,000 checks almost 4 years ago. This is not speculation on our part, we have actual evidence of this. Winnie had no choice but to file for divorce to freeze the assets and let a judge decide what a fair division of the marital assets would be. Winnie filed for divorce in January of 2017 – NEARLY 4 YEARS AGO!
The step family has been extremely unreasonable every step of the way, trying to delay the divorce court hearing as long as possible. Their attorney filed continuance after continuance to keep kicking the can down the road. Finally, the judge put his foot down and said no more continuances. The hearing finally took place in September of 2018 – 21 MONTHS AFTER THE DIVORCE WAS FILED!
The judge awarded Winnie $550,000, which was slightly less than 50% of the marital estate. The step family did not like that, because they felt they should get 75% and Winnie should only get 25%, so they delayed yet again by filing an appeal with the Appellate Court. The attorneys haggled back and forth in a very contentious way (which is how attorneys make the most money), and finally submitted their final briefs to the Appellate Court in August of 2019. Then began the ponderous process of waiting 6 to 9 months for the Appellate panel of judges to read the case and render a decision. The decision came in April of 2020. There were 4 points they wanted clarified, so they sent the case back to District Court which will be in October 2020. Unfortunately, Winnie will be completely out of money BEFORE October.
Here is how unreasonable the step family has been. During the appeals process, they offered to settle out of court if Winnie would drop $200,000 from what she had been awarded, and settle for $350,000. That was a bad joke and was dismissed out of hand. But, they have become even more unreasonable. Prior to the upcoming court date, they offered to settle if Winnie drops $350,000 and settles for $200,000. UNBELIEVABLE! All the love and trust that Winnie gave to that step family means nothing to them. Her trust in them was misplaced.
The Go Fund Me campaign has been a success so far. An anonymous donor sent money outside the Go Fund Me system, so we have already achieved the initial goal of $15,000. However, with paying the divorce attorney $5,000, and her assisted living facility $5,000 per month, all that money is already spent. So, I am trying to revive the Go Fund Me campaign, and am asking people who have already donated to contribute again if they can afford it. If not, please tell your friends, family, and acquaintances, and convince them to participate. It will be greatly appreciated. Winnie deserves much better than what she has been getting in the current set of circumstances.
Organizer
Daniel Magoun
Organizer
Littleton, CO
