Cocktails & Popcorn: Will Mike Duggan Renew His Wedding Vows During The Divorce?

"Renewing wedding vows are really fun psyoptics!"

Oh my!

Mike and his wife, Mary, have filed for divorce.

I wonder if they are going to file protective orders on all electronic devices.

This could be open new chapters to be written in domestic law when it comes to being a public office holder.

Have no fear!

They could always renew their wedding vows during the divorce case.

Married spouses cannot testify against each other, you know.

Too bad Vonda is no longer on the bench, she would be able to officiate the renewal of vows.

Charlie LeDuff is back in action, though.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's wife Mary Loretto Maher files for divorce

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, whose personal life has been the subject of media reports in recent months, is now facing divorce.

His wife of more than three decades, Mary Loretto Maher, filed for divorce Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court.

The divorce filing comes a month after a Free Press investigation raised questions about Duggan's ties to Dr. Sonia Hassan, a Wayne State University physician who heads a maternal health program the mayor supported.

Online court records show Maher, who commonly goes by Lori, filed the divorce complaint Friday. Novi-based attorney Julia Perkins, a partner in the Varnum law firm, is listed as having been retained. Perkins could not be immediately reached for comment.

Information available through the court online contains limited information about the divorce case. The record shows the complaint was filed Friday and that a settlement conference is scheduled for Aug. 2.

More: Mayor Mike Duggan set her up to succeed. That raises questions.

More: She's in charge of investigating Duggan. What she said in secretly taped conversation.

Mayor Mike Duggan and his wife, Lori Maher, arrive at
Greater Grace Temple to pay their final respects to
Aretha Franklin in Detroit, on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. 

Neither Duggan's spokesman, John Roach, nor his chief of staff Alexis Wiley, could be reached for comment by the Free Press. The couple released a statement to several media outlets confirming they had made the painful decision to divorce. Numerous attempts to obtain the statement from city officials were unsuccessful.

Six months ago, Duggan and Maher defended their marriage after Detroit businessman Robert Carmack aired surveillance video showing Duggan and Hassan arriving at the same suburban residence last year.

More: Mayor Mike Duggan refuses to answer questions about relationship with doctor

"We decided to write this statement together because we are proud of the marriage we’ve built over 32 years, proud that our bond today remains strong, and proud of our goal to spend the rest of our lives together," the statement read.

Duggan and Hassan both have repeatedly refused to address the nature of their relationship in recent months.

The City of Detroit and Duggan supported Hassan's organization, Make Your Date, with $358,000 in federal grants from 2015 to 2017 and a fundraising effort in 2017. The Detroit inspector general has opened an investigation into the city's support of Make Your Date.

"I'm never going to talk about my personal life, as you well know," Duggan said at a news conference last month.

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