wok wn oe ao 10 u 2 B 4 15 16 7 18 19 20 2 2 23 24 25 26 FILED BOGMAY -2. PH Ys 05 cary ‘The Honorable Steven Gonzalez SUPERR Bos FL ir enn SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON IN AND FOR KING COUNTY CHRIS CORNELL, ) Plaintiff, No. 06-2-24639-0SEA ) 2 ¥. } DECLARATION OF SUSAN SILVER d VOLDAL WARTELLE & CO.,P.S.,a ‘Washington Professional Service Corporation; LEE E. JOHNSON; JANET A. GEORGE; and ) JANET A. GEORGE INC. P.S., a Washington ) Professional Service Cozporation, } d Defendants. Susan Silver first being swom states: 1. Iwas married to Chris Comell in 1990 and divorced from him on March 2, 2004. Thave personal knowledge of the following. 2. Chris served me with a Petition for Divorce on October 9, 2003. In contemplating a divorce, I felt strongly that I had contributed millions of dollars of earnings to ‘our marital community, had devoted myself to advancing his career, and had endured for many years the stress of his lifestyle. Accordingly, when Chris brought up the issue of a property settlement, I told him that I felt I was entitled to more than half of our community property. Chris was initially resistant to the idea of dividing our property in the manner I felt ‘was fair and instead offered an even split ofall of our property. 3. In January of 2004, [learned that Chris was offering to release his 50 percent interest in to houses we owned, one in West Seattle and one in Ojai, California, and to DECLARATION OF SUSAN SILVER - 1 STOKES LAWRENCE, PS. Pcie Avani Bs cmocasanewow anne 10 un 2 13 14 15 16 7 18 19 20 21 2 23 24 28 26 evenly split with me all other property. In return, I understood that Chris wanted an immediate divorce and that he wanted to avoid valuing his professional goodwill. In this regard, Chris was relatively unknown when we hiad met, but had achieved international acclaim as a rock musician by the time of our separation, I thus felt that he had acquired significant goodwill during our marriage. In addition, I felt I had contributed significantly to his professional stature, not only because of the support Thad given as a spouse, but because I managed Soundgarden, the Seattle “grunge” band with which he first achieved acclaim. 4, Byearly February of 2004, Chris confirmed and refined his offer in emails to me, In particular, he offered to release his interest in the house in West Seattle and the house in Ojai, California. He wanted me to release my interest in a cabin we owned on the Kitsap Peninsula, and in a condominium used by his mother. He offered to split with me atl other property, acquired up to the time the Petition for Divorce was filed, on a 50/50 basis. He described this 50/50 split of property in broad terms to include “everything” up to the date he filed for divorce. Thad earlier requested that I receive all of the Microsoft stock in my account, but Chris refused, claiming it was “community property” that should be split 50/50. On February 7, 2004, Chris sent me the following email describing and confirming his proposed property division: “When I referred to releasing interest in the West Seattle house, and the Ojai house, You release interest in the cabin, everything else that is cash or asset or investment to be split 50/50 that means everything up to the date I filed for the divorce. As for the Microsoft or joint account deficit, the term “community property” applies. Most of the joint account funds went to pay for taxes, and improvements on property you will end up with. If you have specific questions please ask (Emphasis added.) 5. Chris repeatedly conditioned the offer described above, on a divoree by March 1, 2004, For example, on February 11, 2004, Chris emailed me: 1 just want to repeat that my offer stands only if we resolve this, ASAP. Wich (sic) means MAR. First. Twill answer any question you have but you have to ask them. CC. DECLARATION OF SUSAN SILVER -2 STOKES LAWRENCE: 2S. “4912001325607 Reve Decne seine waters10 u 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 a 24 25 26 Similarly, later that same day, Chris sent me another email stating that his “condition” for his, offer was that he receive a divorce by March 1": Also, the conditions of my offer are mine, Wether (sic) you agree ornot. We will never agree on what and why you feel you are entitled to what you ask for. I am oferring (sie) with the inention Gic) of getting this finished. That’s what I get out of it. If this is not resolved in the next couple weeks, then I’m not clearly getting what I want therefore I am not offering it. Simple. (Emphasis added.) 6. I then received a spreadsheet prepared by Chris’ divorce attomey, showing a proposed division of property. The spreadsheet reflected the offer made by Chris to split all of the assets other than real estate on a 50/50 basis, butit did not list or value his professional goodwill. Although the houses in West Seattle and Ojai that I would receive were more valuable than the cabin and the condo that he would receive, not valuing Chris* professional goodwill made it difficult for me to tell who came out shead in his proposal. In addition, T had significant concerns about parenting issues involving our daughter, Lily, given Chris* irregular schedule and travel, and his history of substance abuse. 7. Despite these concerns, and despite the shortness of time, I agreed to mediate a settlement of our divorce on March 1, 2004, the “deadline” set by Chris. In doing so, it was my belief, based upon communications from Chris, that if I cooperated in resolving the divorce by the close of the mediation, I would be entitled to the West Seattle house, the Ojai house, and all of their contents; that he would get the cabin and all of its contents, the condo, and his professional goodwill; and that everything else acquired up to the date he filed for a divorce would be split 50/50. 8 One of the assets to be split in the property settlement was a catalogue of songs which Chris had written or recorded. Prior to the mediation, Chris’ attomeys sent my attomeys 2 “Revenue Sharing Agreement” which proposed to share with me only the, revenues from the song catalogue subject to certain lifetime caps. Thad two issues with this, proposed agreement. First, the song catalogue was community property and I was entitled to DECLARATION OF SUSAN SILVER -3 STOKES LAWRENCE Ps. “912001 52607 Revie Deemdindoe sokPRE WASNT ED