Many people across the nation, including some here in North Carolina, try to avoid reading tabloid stories about celebrity divorces. For some people, the reason is that they prefer not to gossip about other people’s lives, oftentimes noting that getting a divorce is a very private thing and not something everyone should know about.
Others though avoid reading stories about celebrity divorce because they doubt the particular elements of a celebrity divorce will apply to other situations such as their own. As you can imagine, this is a commonly held belief. But oftentimes, if you break down a celebrity divorce, you can see that they are no different than most high-asset divorces. To illustrate this point, we can look to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner who recently filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage.
Not unlike other couples in Hollywood, Affleck and Garner signed a premarital agreement that will determine how much either partner will get based on the number of years they have been married. This is a very common feature of all premarital agreements for both high-asset couples as well as those with more moderate incomes.
Breaking down Affleck and Garner’s divorce further we can see another element that other high-asset couples have in common with celebrities: having a large amount of assets prior to marriage. As most people who are experienced with property division and premarital agreements will tell you, it’s important to take note of all of your assets, as well as your spouse’s, before signing a premarital agreement. That’s because getting an accurate separation of personal property from marital property may be difficult if you don’t take proper inventory ahead of time.
As you can see just with these two elements, high-assets couples here in North Carolina have a lot more in common with celebrities in Hollywood than they probably thought, especially when it comes to handling assets during a divorce. As we have told our readers before, premarital agreements can help with the property division step of a divorce. This is true for both high-assets couples and moderate-income couples alike.
Source: Fortune, “What we can learn about prenups from the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Garner divorce,” Laura J. Vogel, July 4, 2015