Final Arguments Made in McGreevey Divorce Case

It's now up to a judge to decide how much alimony and child support to award the soon-to-be ex-wife of New Jersey's gay former governor, following three weeks of testimony laying bare the couple's dire financial straits.

Lawyers delivered their final arguments Wednesday, wrapping up the money phase in the bitter divorce of Jim McGreevey and Dina Matos.

Matos has asked the judge for $2,500 a month alimony for four years, $1,750 a month support, and for McGreevey to foot her legal bills for the divorce, which exceed $250,000. McGreevey does not want to pay alimony and is hoping to be assessed support payments of about $100 a month.

The judge is not expected to rule until July at the earliest.

A final phase in the divorce -- Matos's claim that she was duped into marrying a gay man who thought he needed a wife to advance his political ambitions -- won't be heard until after the money issues are settled. The fraud claim, if it reaches trial, could include salacious testimony from a former campaign aide who claims to have had sexual trysts with the McGreeveys.

During Wednesday's summation Matos's lawyer John Post challenged McGreevey's claim that he's broke, saying the 50-year-old seminary student is intentionally underearning to avoid paying alimony. Post also dismissed a claim by a McGreevey-hired employment expert who testified that the former governor is so tainted by scandal that he's ''radioactive'' in the work world.

''He finds himself where he is today because he is doing work he wants to do,'' said Post, who called McGreevey's claim of a dire financial situation ''a contrived farce.''

McGreevey lawyer Stephen Haller said his client doesn't owe Matos a dime in alimony based on a marriage lasting just four years before the couple split in 2004.

''We've got a marriage so short that kids date longer than these two were married,'' he said.

Matos and McGreevey are both deeply in debt, their grim finances made ever more difficult by exorbitant legal bills incurred in the divorce. Matos, who lost her job as a hospital fund-raiser when the hospital closed last week, testified to owing about $750,000 for a mortgage, personal loan, and legal bills. McGreevey said he owed his boyfriend more than $200,000, mostly for lawyers, and is $11,000 behind in support for a daughter from his first marriage. Neither have any savings.

McGreevey abruptly resigned in 2004, acknowledging that he is ''a gay American'' who'd had an affair with a male staffer. The staffer denied the affair and said he was sexually harassed by the governor.

The McGreeveys split three months after the speech, leaving the governor's mansion and going their separate ways.

Part of her alimony claim was staked on the fact that she would have lived as New Jersey's first lady for 13 additional months had her husband not resigned in disgrace. McGreevey maintained that the so-called gubernatorial lifestyle was not a marital asset.

Matos later backed off the claim that she was entitled to a compensation package that included the value of a personal assistant, chef, and round-the-clock state police protection, all perks of the governor's office. (Angela Delli Santi, AP)