46. Contract

Jamie received a letter from the Law Office of Lincoln Schneider. It was a thick envelope so he could guess what it was. The cover letter said:

Dear Mr. Foster:

Congratulations and best wishes on your betrothal to my client Kent Tanquery Kessler. Love is a wonderful thing, and the opportunity to join two persons in the state of marriage is always an occasion of joy to their friends and family. It has been my personal pleasure to get to know you these past few weeks and to imagine the future life you and Kent will enjoy together.

Thank you also for initiating discussion of your Pre-Nuptial Agreement, as marriage is in part a joining and commingling of a couple's financial estates. Enclosed you will find a copy of our proposal on behalf of Mr. Kessler to guide the two of you as you face your future life together. I am also sending a copy to your attorney, Maria Estevez-Walker of the firm Batton and Tompkins, Indianapolis.

Our proposal is a fairly standard version of the agreements that have worked well for Kessler family members in the past, modified to account for the unique status you will enjoy as the future spouse of the President of the Josiah A. Kessler Trust. The Trust contains generous provisions for you, including 10,000 shares of stock in the governing corporation and an independent income in the form of dividends on those shares, paid semi-annually. At current prices that income amounts to $1,400,000 annually or $700,000 every six months.

In the event of divorce or dissolution, after your marriage is legally constituted, the Trust and this Agreement provide for the sale of your 10,000 shares back to the Trust, at a current price of $150 per share, for a total settlement of $1,500,000.

In addition, in the event of divorce, my client proposes that you receive a lump settlement of $100,000 for each full year of the marriage. If you were married for ten full years prior to the divorce or dissolution, this would amount to an additional $1,000,000, due at the final decree. (This provision in particular is a common feature of Pre-Nuptial Agreements among Kessler family members; the amount varies but the incentive of annual accrual remains.)

Of course, as the spouse of the incumbent President, you have a right to occupy Hickory Grove, the family estate, throughout the marriage. This right would terminate upon divorce.

If you remain in the marriage and Mr. Kessler should pre-decease you, you have additional rights under the Trust: namely to occupy the home and grounds known as Judge's House on Kessler Avenue in the City of Crawfordsville, Indiana, without payment of rent; plus one-fourth the annual income of Hickory Grove Farm. Currently this amounts to $375,000, in addition to your annual dividend income of $1,400,000 as noted above.

If you remarry, you retain one-eighth interest in the income from Hickory Grove as long as you live, and may continue to be incumbent at the Judge's House at the discretion of the current President.

Maintenance and structural improvement of the homes are funded by the Trust.

As you can see these are outstandingly generous provisions for your safety, welfare and comfort. The Spouse of the President is a position of honor in the Kessler family, and as you prepare to take it on, my client your beloved Kent is eager for you to occupy it as a token of his love and commitment.

One final note must be addressed. We live in a time when the legal status of marriage is changing. In several states same-sex marriages are recognized as equal by law to opposite-sex marriages; in other states this status is currently denied by statute or Constitutional amendment. At this time the United States Government refuses to recognize same-sex marriage under the Defense of Marriage Act. It is likely that these conflicting statutes will be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court at some future time. This Pre-Nuptial Agreement is written with the assumption that the ultimate resolution of the question will favor those in same-sex marriages. But regardless of that final outcome, the financial provisions herein will be treated as a separate, valid contract between the parties. By signing this Agreement, you and my client certify all terms of this private contract between you, no matter what legal status the Court deems your relationship to have. It shall be as if you are married, no matter what men shall say.

I look forward to resolving this matter as soon as convenient. Welcome to the family, Jamie.

Sincerely yours,
etc.

---

Jamie telephoned Ms. Estevez-Walker, asked her to prepare his will and powers-of-attorney, endorsed Kent's pre-nup framework but proposed a few changes; that in the event of divorce, Jamie would be entitled to a greatly reduced settlement, while Kent would receive nothing at all of Jamie's property.

But he also proposed that as long as they stayed married, With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.

Kent was astonished when he heard about it, and argued with him for days. "You're gonna need that money, baby. I want you to have that money. It's an incentive. I want you to stick with me, even if you don't feel like it. Even if you're mad as hell at me, even if I hurt you bad, I want you thinkin' twice, and three times, and ten times."

"And so I shall; money is nothing to sneeze at. Why should I give up all my benefits just because I'm mad as hell at you?"

In time Kent would learn; his husband was no one to argue with. "By accepting my amendments, what you grant me is freedom from your resentment if we divorce. I don't want you saying for the rest of your life, 'Plus he cost me a hundred grand for every year!'

"That's the way heterosexuals act in a divorce, Kent. I don't want that for us, it's not how Gay guys do this. Afterwards when we meet on the street, we introduce our ex to our friends and say, 'Here's the sweet, sexy man I spent all those years with.' That's how Gay guys do it; we part as friends."

Finally Kent accepted, with reluctance and complaints, a reduction in his proposed incentive package from $100,000 per year of marriage to $10,000. Receiving the entirety of Jamie's estate in the event of his death was at most an afterthought.

So they signed the agreement in front of Ma and Jamie's brother Danny, who flew in to Indianapolis from Denver to cover the Midwest Regional as part of March Madness. Jamie got all excited; not only was Purdue seeded #8, the #1 seed was defending champion Florida, and who was their sacrificial lamb? He shouted, "Fairly Dickherson!"++


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