There is a Chinese curse saying “may you live in interesting times”. Perhaps it is for this reason that newspapers have spent a lot of the last week speculating about the reasons for the breakdown of the marriage between Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Much of this is a prurient desire to look into other people’s lives and perhaps some of it is to distract ourselves from the important issues happening in the world.
I thought I would reflect upon the fact that in this country, now that we have a no fault divorce system there is very little interest insofar as the Court system is concerned as to the reasons for a marriage breakdown. This allows a couple to reach a decision to bring their relationship to an end and avoid discussion in legal correspondence as to whether the breakdown was caused by one party’s conduct or the other – certainly I have spent far too much time in previous years discussing whether it was the one party’s desire to stay at home which was the cause of the breakdown or one party’s desire to push ahead with their career that was more blameworthy. This does neither party any real benefit in the long term and it is the key advantage with the no fault divorce system.
There have been some discussions as to whether a pre-nuptial agreement was involved. This is of course complete speculation as these documents are completely confidential and are never publicised, however it would seem sensible that for a couple marrying for a second time who have each built up significant assets prior to the marriage that they might take some steps to consider how the marital assets should be divided, which country the children should be brought up in the event of a marital breakdown and what the overall division should be. Pre-nuptial agreements do not avoid all arguments but they can at least point to what circumstances were considered to be fair and reasonable at the time the agreement was signed. If a document is drafted well, it should enable the parties to divide their assets upon marriage breakdown with minimal conflict and, in most cases, avoid litigation.
The third point that seems to be mentioned in the newspapers is whether or not Keith Urban moved out of the house and this was the final nail in the coffin of the attempts at reconciliation. Obviously, moving out of the house sends a particular signal but it is not always necessary for a spouse to move out of the house before the assets are divided and it is always sensible to take legal advice as to the financial impact that this will have on the parties, both during the financial negotiations and upon consideration of the overall split.
I do not give advice to people who have not asked for it, and certainly not when I have not got all of the facts in front of me but from the limited information provided in the papers, it does seem that there are certain elements in the English family proceedings that could make life a little more bearable for a couple who are entering into a marital breakdown – whether or not they are worldwide film stars.
Please contact Rayden Solicitors to discuss the issues raised in this blog further.
