The defendant had treated the plaintiff's parents with grave disrespect and frequently engaged in drunken abuse and physical violence. The plaintiff, too, bore some fault: the marital relationship had broken down amid conflict with the defendant, and there had been infidelity.

In a situation where fault on both sides was bound to be recognized, we did everything possible to prove the other spouse's fault, and focused especially on securing a favorable division of property as well as parental authority and custody. Although the parties were far apart on property division, we used fact-finding inquiries to clearly identify the assets subject to division, uncovered assets the other spouse had concealed, and secured a comparatively large share for our client.