Madonna and Guy Ritchie, part 3

I have noticed in my reading and research that Madonna’s divorce from Guy Ritchie presents an amazingly compact nugget of family law information. Their situation presents an example from which to answer questions about divorce, if we assume the hypothetical that the divorce was here in Oregon. I hope you can see the same wealth of knowledge that this news story presents to me. I have used celebrity cases such as Alec Baldwin and Britney Spears to educate TV audiences about how “regular” divorces can parallel the issues that famous people also experience.

At the time of their marriage, Madonna was far wealthier than Guy Ritchie, and she probably has made more money during her marriage than he has. How do those factors affect their divorce? If their divorce were in Oregon, it would seem unlikely that he would walk away with as much money as she walked away with, as they did not have a long-term marriage and she came in with far more money than he did. Also, she made most of her money before she met him; a smaller portion of her fortune has been earned since their marriage date. However, he is probably entitled to some of the money she has made because in Oregon it would be presumed that he contributed equally to acquiring it, and because he has gotten used to a lifestyle based on her higher income.