Last week, fans of ‘Bennifer’ were devastated when Jennifer Lopez officially filed for divorce after being married to Ben Affleck for two years.
Lopez submitted the divorce papers on August 20, marking exactly two years since their grand wedding ceremony in Georgia.
Speculation about trouble in their marriage had been circulating for months before Lopez filed for divorce, especially after the couple listed their Beverly Hills mansion for sale last month.
Since the filing, additional details about the A-list couple’s separation have emerged, revealing that they actually split back in April.
Lopez cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason for their breakup.
Elaborating on what this means, Evan Schein from the New York-based family law firm Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein explained to UNILAD: “Irreconcilable differences is essentially no fault divorce and allows one spouse to file for divorce without alleging grounds or fault. This is the widely used term to file for divorce.”
Schein also noted that Lopez filed the papers without legal representation.
“It’s absolutely unusual for a celebrity to file for divorce without a lawyer,” he said. “This is almost unheard of especially when finances are not an issue. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.”
Reports have also indicated that Affleck and Lopez did not have a prenuptial agreement before their marriage two years ago.
Despite this, Schein believes that their divorce might not be as prolonged as other high-profile separations, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver’s decade-long legal battle.
The attorney told us: “It is hard to imagine that the celebrity couple did not have a prenup given their status and their respective assets and wealth.”
“If they have a prenup in place, then most of the financial terms of their divorce will have already been agreed upon.”
“If there is no prenup in place, then there will be many more assets to identify and divide and claims that each may make.”
Schein added: “While having a prenup in place can definitely expedite the divorce, in this particular case and given the relatively short marriage, even in the absence of a prenup, I do not see this celebrity divorce being drawn out.”
“It would be in both of their interests to resolve things quickly and out of the public spotlight.”