If you missed it, Kevin Costner, the patriarch of Yellowstone, is going through a messy divorce. According to celebrity blogs, Kevin Costner’s net worth exceeds $400 million and his wife of eighteen years wants part of it. Unfortunately for her, Kevin Costner learned a hard lesson through his prior divorce where he was ordered to pay his first wife $80,000,000. In order to avoid a repeat of history, Kevin Costner required a prenup before he married his second wife.
Although I have not reviewed his prenup, news sources state the prenup requires his wife to immediately vacate the $145,000,000 marital residence and directs the parties how to split their assets and debts. As you can imagine, the prenup is disproportionately favorable to Kevin, which has caused his estranged wife to lawyer up and fight its terms. Recently, in a signal that the prenup’s terms would be enforced, the California court presiding over the divorce directed his estranged wife to immediately vacate the residence.
In an Iowa divorce, assets and debts are equitably divided based on a number of factors, such as whether a prenup exists, each party’s earning ability, the age, physical health and emotional health of the parties, and the tax consequences of the property division. Although the existence of a prenup is only one factor the court considers, prenups are favored in Iowa. In fact, the only way to invalidate a prenup is to prove one of the following:
1) The person did not execute the agreement voluntarily;
2) The agreement was unconscionable when entered, and:
3) The person seeking to invalidate it did not have (nor could they have discovered) the other spouse’s financial affairs.
Because prenups are regularly enforced in Iowa, it is an excellent tool to protect the assets you have accumulated prior to the marriage and assets you acquire during the marriage. It is also a helpful mechanism for estate planning.
A misconception about prenups is that it leaves the other party with nothing. That is not true. Typically, the prenup will provide some sort of financial benefit for the party with the lesser financial position. In addition, prenups cannot eliminate child or spousal support. As a result, in the event you have signed a prenup with terms that are disfavorable to you, there is still an ability to fight for financial assistance from your spouse.
An additional benefit of a prenup is that it streamlines the divorce process, which is invaluable when going through such an emotionally taxing event. If you are interested in whether a prenuptial agreement is right for you, feel free to contact Regan Conder for more information.