2024-08-22 04:15:02
There might be no script for Hollywood’s latest bombshell de-coupling.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck tied the knot two years ago without signing a prenuptial agreement, a source close to the “Waiting for Tonight“ singer said, which has the potential to complicate their impending, California divorce.
“Yeah, I’m surprised by the reports that there’s no prenup, because I would think their business managers, their accountants, their attorneys would’ve insisted on one,” veteran Los Angeles family law attorney Roz Soudry said. “I’m surprised that there’s none, but we don’t really know.”
California is a community property state, so virtually anything that’s acquired during marriage — such real estate, bank accounts, retirement savings — are lumped into one pot and split evenly.
Ashley Silberfeld, another L.A. family law lawyer, said she’d be stunned if Lopez and Affleck didn’t have at least some other safeguards, such as a post-nuptial agreement, in place to protect their assets.
“There’s always a chance that it’s, ‘You know what, I have enough to take care of me and my family for the rest of my life. You have enough to take care of you and your family for the rest of your life,’ ” Silberfeld said.
“They seem to have, from what we can tell, maintained some level of cordiality during all of this time so that’s a possibility.”
And in a company town like Los Angeles, the division of assets could be further complicated when tracing the roots of intellectual property, Los Angeles divorce attorney Christopher C. Melcher said.
When writer Gene Roddenberry and his wife divorced in 1969, his “Star Trek” was a short-run, relatively obscure TV series.
But in years to come, of course, “Star Trek” became a cultural phenomenon and money-making monster. That prompted Roddenberry’s ex-wife to famously go back to court in later years to secure a share of those intergalactic profits.
If Lopez and Affleck have any projects in the works now, or even hatched a concept during these past two years of matrimony, that could be on the table with no prenup or other agreement stipulating who gets what.
“For this couple, there could be a future stream of income and that’s where it gets really difficult and painful. Let’s say there’s a movie project in the works or there’s a sequel, these things that can happen years after a split, could still be community property and be subject to being shared,” Melcher said.
“The Gene Roddenberry divorce is a classic example. When they split up, ‘Star Trek’ is a failure. But then there’s a ‘Star Trek movie’ and everything else in the 80s. So the ex-wife comes out says, ‘pay me’ and this shows it’s very difficult to cut off these streams of income (from community property).”
This is Lopez and Affleck’s second high-profile breakup, but first divorce.
They began dating while working on the legendary Hollywood bust ‘Gigli‘ in a relationship that introduced the term “Bennifer” to tabloid lexicon.
They were set to get hitched in September 2003 but postponed the ceremony before breaking up months later.
Lopez and Affleck remained friendly over the years and rekindled their romance more than a decade and half later, culminating in a July 17, 2022 Las Vegas wedding.
Even if Lopez and Affleck were to fight over assets gleaned over these past two years, Soudry said she doubt there’d be much on the table.
“They’re probably already close to some kind of settlement, again, given that it’s only a two-year marriage,” Soudry said.
