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Country Club Membership? 'Priceless'

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

In wealthy communities, like Greenwich and Darien, CT, country club membership can take on momentous significance. Nevertheless, the question of whether club membership is marital property has not been settled. A recent case tackled the problem and left it unanswered.

Sometimes, a spouse's social and athletic life is tied to the country club. For example, Nancy Brewster — whose parents, brothers and nephews are all members of the world-renowned, 210-acre Round Hill Club in Greenwich, CT — recently asked Stamford Superior Court Judge Kevin Tierney to order her husband to transfer his membership to her. “I am a legacy, and legacy is preferred for new members,” she told the court. Instead, in the most far-ranging analysis of country club membership by a Connecticut jurist, Tierney concluded that membership rights in a stock corporation country club with a nonrefundable initiation fee of $65,000 is not marital property and is impossible to value.

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