Celebrity marriages live and die by the prenuptial agreement
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 13, 2005
LOS ANGELES – No mother-in-law sleepovers. Only one football game per Sunday. Mandatory sexual positions.
With celebrity marriages often shorter than Jessica Simpson’s Daisy Duke shorts, the power of the prenuptial agreement cannot be denied.
Simpson and soon-to-be-ex-husband Nick Lachey didn’t have a prenup; he actually had more earning power than she did when they got married three years ago. So Simpson could have to part with half of the $30 million she earned last year.
Other recent breakups include Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen, and Christina Applegate and Jonathon Schaech. Prenups are the norm for most stars, and these documents can dictate far more than who gets what. Attorneys say some recent celebrity prenups include:
* Limiting the wife’s weight to 120 pounds or she must relinquish $100,000 of her separate property.
* Allowing a spouse to perform random drug tests, with financial penalties for positive results.
* Requiring a husband to pay $10,000 each time he is rude to his wife’s parents.
* The previously mentioned rules regarding mothers-in-law, football and sex.
“Everything is legal unless you’re dealing with custody of children or child support,” said Los Angeles divorce attorney Robert Nachshin.
Infidelity clauses are common, Nachshin said. Michael Douglas agreed to pay Catherine Zeta-Jones millions should he stray, and Denise Richards made similar requirements of Charlie Sheen.
Custody of pets is another common concern. Bennett once handled a case that dictated the destination of a couple’s taxidermied horse. Even gardeners, baby sitters and pool men have been split up.
Most states, including California, consider anything earned or bought after the wedding day to be community property that should be divided equally in a divorce. Prenuptial agreements, which are signed by both parties but don’t have to be filed in court, can legally determine the distribution of almost anything the couple shared, from art collections to country club memberships.
