Most celebrity gossip fans were not surprised when Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck this week. However, the news that the couple had not signed a prenup came as a bit of a shock.
After all, these days, even middle class couples are playing it safe and protecting their assets before they exchange vows.
In the case of couples who might have to work out yacht custody in the event of a split, we just assume prenups are just a matter of course.
Obviously, Ben and Jen are both quite comfortable and won’t need to take on second jobs at Starbucks anytime soon. (Ben’s more of a Dunkin’ guy, anyway.)
But the lack of a prenup might still prove to be an expensive error that could result in a whole lot of legal headaches.
In fact, a new report from The New York Post predicts that the leap of faith may turn out to be “the costliest mistake of their lives.”
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s Lack of Prenup: What’s at Stake?
Only the money that Ben and Jen earned during their two-year marriage would be up for grabs in the event of a contentious divorce. But you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the A-listers earned a whole lot of cash during that time.
Ben and Jen first said “I do” in a quickie late-night ceremony in Vegas in June of 2022. (They would later tie the knot a second time at his lavish estate in Georgia.)
Since then, they’ve each been involved with several lucrative projects, and that money might now fall under the category of “community property.”
A Lucrative Couple of Years
Ben made Forbes‘ list of the year’s highest-paid actors, earning an estimated $38 million in 2023 alone.
In the years since he and Jen made it official, he starred in and directed Air and acted in several other films including Hypnotic.
He also produced the recent Matt Damon-Casey Affleck film The Instigators, as well as the upcoming The Accountant 2, in which he also stars.
And believe it or not, Jen might have been even busier.
In addition to her multimedia This Is Me … Now project, Jen starred in Shotgun Wedding, The Mother, and Atlas.
It’s tough to gauge exactly how much she earned for those projects. But it’s safe to assume that they each came with an eight-figure payday, so … you do the math.
What Comes Next For Ben and Jen?
Jen just filed for divorce from Ben yesterday (on the second anniversary of the couple’s Georgia wedding, no less). So it’s too soon to predict how this divorce will play out.
But needless to say, there’s a whole lot of cash on the table. And the exes will need to figure out some way to divvy up the proceeds from the $60 million mansion they just placed on the market.
The house was supposed to serve as Ben and Jen’s dream home, but now, we’re guessing they wish they’d never laid eyes on it.
Of course, they probably wish even more that they’d signed a prenup.
