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Well, there are worse people he could be getting advice from...slimy NY lawyer Mark Heller who is constantly saying "we're in the court of public opinion", deadbeat Dad Michael Lohan or 22 year old I've barely lived my life and have no experience whatsoever Hailey. So, I'm thinking that perhaps these other men might be just a teeny, tiny bit wiser. The advice they gave is actually good, if Jon follows it of course.[/QUOTE]
I guess you didn't see the video -- in it, Rabbi Shmuley says he met Jon through the Hellers (apparently he is a good friend of the family)
It kind of made me wonder if I hadn't been drinking the TLC koolaid. We don't actually know very much about Mark Heller as a lawyer, or as a person, except from tabloid articles and Kate's lawyer. Yes, he represented people we wouldn't be sympathetic too (a lot of very good lawyers do) and he was disbarred for 5 years in NY (I'm still having trouble with that one)
Was this advice given before the arbitrator was assigned? Wouldn't Kate's lawyer be in some kind of trouble for counseling her to take $100,000 and hide it yet he slammed Jon's lawyer for supposedly counseling Jon to take out that money? Remember that petition where Kate's lawyer spent a great deal of time defaming Mark Heller? He insinuated that he (Mark Heller) told Jon to withdraw it. Sheesh, talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
When I went back and watched the Today Show interview, it's obvious she is talking about making 2 large withdrawals from the bank account. First, she says she took all of the money out of the bank account on the advice of her lawyer (and some article said this was after the arbitrator had been assigned) but the arbitrator told her to put it back so she did (they didn't actually meet with the arbitrator until July 10th so it was put back after that) and then she talks about the $100,000 she withdrew from the bank account but split with Jon (since, she alleged, Jon had made a large withdrawal from the bank account but since this wasn't part of her petition I'm beginning to doubt that)
Not saying it was ok for Jon to take the money out of the account, but I have been thinking about it (sort of as if somebody
I knew was in the same situation) ie. what would their lawyer tell them to do under these circumstances: your ex is in absolute control of all but one bank account, refused the arbitrators orders (twice) to provide an accounting of the finances, has twice removed large amounts from the only account you have access to, and that account is the one where all of your pay is deposited. Yes, I think Heller might tell Jon to make sure he took some money out -- maybe not all of it -- even if he couldn't get Kate to return his calls or emails to give him permission to make a withdrawal ie. if these 2 are not communicating about the kids, I find it hard to believe they've been communicating about the joint account. And I think many lawyers would say the same thing or would advise them to file a petition against their ex, even if it would cause them public embarrassment. But Jon didn't file a petition until after Kate did.
ETA: Kate wasn't being represented by Mark Momjian at that time -- she was only being represented by Cheryl Young, who is a PA lawyer
Welcome! Warning, this thread is highly addicting though! 
to the thread -- if you've been lurking, you already know it's addictive -- we can't stop. 
That is exactly what all those/us mentioned will be like.
