Woman Has No Claim to Ex’s New Book Royalties

(CN) - An author does not have to share royalties for the fourth edition of his book "Doing Grammar" with his ex-wife, a Florida appeals court ruled.

Max and Laura Morenberg divorced in 2008 after 46 years of marriage. The trial court divided Max's book royalties equally, rejecting claims that he should not have to share the royalties from books he would write after the breakup.

Max said this would include the fourth edition of "Doing Grammar," a guide to diagramming and writing linguistically sound sentences.

Oxford Press published the fourth edition in December 2009. Max claimed that he started working on the edition four months after Laura filed for divorce.

The West Palm Beach-based Fourth District Florida Court of Appeals ruled that Max can keep all of those royalties.

"Because the record reflects that the fourth edition of 'Doing Grammar' was started, completed and submitted after the petition for dissolution, any future royalties from such work should be considered income from post-dissolution labor and excluded from the income to be split with the wife," Judge Carole Taylor wrote for the court.

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