UPDATE: Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren announce divorce

Credit: SCOT TUCKER/AP

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren appeared at the closing ceremonies for the Presidents Cup last year.

By: Times-Dispatch Staff | Times-Dispatch
Published: August 23, 2010
Updated: August 23, 2010 - 9:02 PM

A Richmond law firm represented Elin Nordegren in a divorce from golfing superstar Tiger Woods that was officially granted by a Florida judge today.

McGuireWoods declined to say how it landed Nordegren as a client, but her twin sister, Josefin Lonnberg, is an attorney in the firm’s London office who helped represent Nordegren.

Leading Nordegren’s six-attorney legal team were Richard Cullen, chairman of the McGuireWoods megafirm, and partner Dennis I. Belcher, a past president of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Woods and Swedish-born Nordegren headed down the path to divorce following disclosure of numerous affairs by the PGA star and a highly publicized, single-vehicle car accident outside their home in Florida nine months ago. The couple had married in October 2004 in Barbados and have a 3-year-old daughter, Sam, and a 19-month-old son, Charlie.

The divorce was granted yesterday in Panama City, Fla., in the chambers of Bay County Circuit Judge Judy Pittman Biebel. Woods and Nordegren were present, along with their lawyers, at the hearing that lasted no more than 10 minutes, according to the judge’s assistant.

The divorce provides for the shared parenting of their two children, McGuireWoods said in a press release that also included a joint statement from Nordegren and Woods:

"We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future. While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us. Once we came to the decision that our marriage was at an end, the primary focus of our amicable discussions has been to ensure their future well-being. The weeks and months ahead will not be easy for them as we adjust to a new family situation, which is why our privacy must be a principal concern."

Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, declined comment when asked if the couple had a prenuptial agreement or on the terms of a settlement they signed in July. "We’re not commenting beyond what was in the release," he said.

The sordid sex scandal cost Woods three major corporate sponsors — Accenture, AT&T and Gatorade — worth millions of dollars, and he lost his image as the gold standard in sports endorsements.

Cullen, a former U.S. attorney and Virginia attorney general, has counseled the high and mighty through hazards before. Clients have included defense representation of former Texas Republican Majority Whip Rep. Tom DeLay in a recently junked federal investigation into alleged campaign fundraising violations and former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, whom he represented in a tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service.

Staff writer Jim Nolan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.