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Thursday, November 27, 1997

Tilton divorce finalized after two contentious years

DALLAS (AP) -- Evangelists Robert and Leigh Valentine Tilton are finally divorced after two years of bitter proceedings.

State District Judge William Martin upheld $275,000 in judgments against her Monday in issuing the final divorce decree -- rejecting Ms. Tilton's claims that her husband hit and emotionally abused her.

Ms. Tilton, 41, had asked the judge to award her $1.4 million. She said Tilton, 51, assaulted her several times in drunken rages and pushed her down a flight of stairs during an argument at their Florida home.

After "evaluating the credibility of the evidence," Martin concluded that Tilton did not cause Ms. Tilton any injury.

Tilton is senior pastor of Word of Faith World Outreach Center Church in suburban Farmers Branch.

Martin determined that the couple were broke and divided a long list of bills between them, leaving Tilton to pay about $100,000 in marital debts and his ex-wife with about twice that amount. She previously declared bankruptcy.

Evidence showed that the Tiltons spent more than $200,000 during their brief marriage. Ms. Tilton received about $85,000 in court-ordered support after she was fired from her $100,000 a year pastorship at Word of Faith in May 1996.

The judge lambasted Ms. Tilton for her many attempts to draw out the divorce, including changing attorneys, trying to recuse him from the case, "reneging on agreements made in court," refusing to attend trial sessions and filing for bankruptcy in August, the week before the divorce was to be final.

Ms. Tilton "has engaged in a pattern of attempting to delay these proceedings," Martin said. "This litigation has been made much longer and more costly by ... (her) behavior."

The marathon divorce case spanned two years almost to the day, including an unusual attempt by Ms. Tilton to make the church's approximately $30 million in assets part of the divorce settlement.

But last January, a Dallas jury decided that Word of Faith should be severed from the divorce.

The couple married secretly in February 1994 in Santo Domingo, shortly after his marriage to his first wife, Marte, ended in divorce in late 1993. They waited almost a year to announce their union to church members.

Tilton now lives in Fort Lauderdale. A spokesman said he is trying to re-establish his once-powerful fund-raising ministry through a TV cable program.

Ms. Tilton hopes to write a tell-all book about her life with Tilton, tentatively titled "The Dark Side of the Cross," and make media appearances, an adviser said.