While most celebrities take the precaution of signing a prenuptial agreement before their marriage, queen of pop Madonna reportedly decided to buck the trend when she married Guy Ritchie.
Washington, July 8 : While most celebrities take the precaution of signing a prenuptial agreement before their marriage, queen of pop Madonna reportedly decided to buck the trend when she married Guy Ritchie.
With her marriage reportedly on shaky grounds, not signing a prenup could cause Madge to lose a huge chunk of her fortune to Ritchie, if a divorce between them materialised.
"The issue would be what she was worth at the time she got married, and what she is worth now," E!online quoted celebrity divorce attorney Goldie Schon, who is familiar with the British laws, as saying.
According to British family law, Ritchie would be entitled not only to half of Madonna's entire fortune, estimated at 600 million dollars, but to half of whatever increase in fortune the singer made during the length of the marriage.
For example, if Madonna's worth grew by 50 million dollars between 2000, when she married Ritchie in a Scottish castle, and now, Ritchie might be able to get 25 million dollars, if there is, in fact, no prenup.
Most celebrities have a prenuptial agreement, and in not having one, Madge has set herself apart from most of her fellows in the Legend Community.
"My guess is that upwards of 70 percent of celebrities have them," Schon said.
"I was surprised when I read reports she doesn't have one," she added.
Among the celeb couples who have signed prenups: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Russell Crowe and wife Danielle Spencer, TomKat, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.
ANI