The Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Divorce and Drunk Driving Debacle

Readers searching for divorce advice in Pasadena also are likely to be searching for help with other legal issues, just like the family of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to new information released this week, just three days before his wife, Mary Kennedy, was arrested for drunk driving, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed for divorce. The son of slain presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy filed divorce papers May 12 in the Westchester County Clerk's Office.

Mary Kennedy herself called 911 two days before the papers were filed. Responding officers stated that Mary Kennedy was "visibly intoxicated" and had "great difficulty collecting her thoughts and articulating her reasons for calling." She reportedly told officers that her husband was verbally and physically abusive to her and their children. The recent visit from police was one of several over the past few years, and they were summoned yet again to the home on May 13 where they filed a domestic incident report.

Two days later, Mary was arrested for slamming into a curb near St. Patrick's School on Greenwich road not far from the family's home. Police reported that she had a .11 blood alcohol level, three points above the legal .08. She was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. Mary Kennedy has been ordered to undergo evaluation for alcohol abuse and is due in court on July 22.

Details of the potential divorce settlement and the filing grounds have thus far been kept from the press. New York State currently does not have no-fault divorce law, but will when a new law goes into effect in September.

The couple has four children. This will be Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s second divorce. He previously was married to Emily Ruth Black, whom he divorced in 1994 only a month before he married his current wife. Kennedy is a respected environmentalist at Pace University School of Law in White Plains, New York.

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