There might be no script for Hollywood's latest bombshell de-coupling.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck tied the knot two years ago without signing a prenuptial agreement, a source close to Lopez said, which could complicate their impending California divorce.
"Yeah, I'm surprised by the reports that there's no prenup, because I would think their business managers, their accountants, their attorneys would've insisted on one," veteran Los Angeles family law attorney Roz Soudry said. "I'm surprised that there's none, but we don't really know."
California is a community property state, so virtually anything that's acquired during marriage — such as real estate, bank accounts and retirement savings — are lumped into one pot and split evenly.
Ashley Silberfeld, another Los Angeles family law lawyer, said she'd be stunned if Lopez and Affleck didn't have at least some other safeguards, such as a post-nuptial agreement, to protect their assets.
"There's always a chance that it's 'You know what, I have enough to take care of me and my family for the rest of my life. You have enough to take care of you and your family for the rest of your life,'" Silberfeld said.
"They seem to have, from what we can tell, maintained some level of cordiality during all of this time, so that's a possibility."
And in a company town like Los Angeles, the division of assets could be further complicated in tracing the roots of intellectual property, Los Angeles divorce attorney Christopher C. Melcher said.
When writer Gene Roddenberry and his wife divorced in 1969, his "Star Trek" was a short-run, relatively obscure TV series.
But in the years to come, of course, "Star Trek" became a cultural phenomenon and moneymaking monster. That prompted Roddenberry's ex-wife to famously go back to court in later years to secure a share of those intergalactic profits.
If Lopez and Affleck have any projects in the works now or even hatched a concept during the past two years of matrimony, they could be on the table with no prenup or other agreement stipulating who gets what.
"For this couple, there could be a future stream of income, and that's where it gets really difficult and painful. Let's say there's a movie project in the works or there's a sequel — these things that can happen years after a split could still be community property and be subject to being shared," Melcher said.
"The Gene Roddenberry divorce is a classic example. When they split up, 'Star Trek' is a failure. But then there's a 'Star Trek movie' and everything else in the ’80s. So the ex-wife comes out, says 'pay me,' and this shows it's very difficult to cut off these streams of income" from community property.
It is Lopez and Affleck's second high-profile breakup but their first divorce.
They began dating working on the legendary Hollywood bust "Gigli" in a relationship that introduced the term "Bennifer" to tabloid lexicon.
They were set to get hitched in September 2003 but postponed the ceremony and broke up months later.
Lopez and Affleck remained friendly over the years and rekindled their romance more than a decade and half later, culminating in a Las Vegas wedding on July 17, 2022.
Even if Lopez and Affleck were to fight over assets amassed over the past two years, Soudry said she doubts there'd be much on the table.
"They're probably already close to some kind of settlement, again, given that it's only a two-year marriage," she said.
