The “American” divorces cost abnormal figures to the wealthy earth, who use the “piar” to protect their assets before the wedding (last Jeff Bezos). Legal strategies that are not used in Italy. But something is changing.
It is said “until death does not separate” but the expiry date of a union increasingly does not coincide with the departure with a better life. Love is eternal as long as it lasts, it is the new formula, so that when there are large capitals, caution is a must.
The premarital agreements, the Setup, in the USA are normal especially if one of the two spouses has a nine zeri wallet. Indeed, it can be said that there is no happy union without having put yourself safe from any early goodbyes. It may seem like a little romantic practice but it is the only one able to protect partners in case of separation. Jeff Bezos, patron of Amazon, among the first four richest men in the world, who in 2019, at the time of breakage from the historic wife, Mackenzie Scott, knows something about it, in the absence of contractual clauses he had to give in a substantial 4 percent of Amazon’s total actions, for a figure around 40 billion dollars. Burning by this experience, before getting married to new wedding with former journalist Lauren Sánchez, the multi -militaryard has put the best law firms around the country around a table to arm her assets (about 200 billion, gets favorated). The document that came out is so detailed that a “legal fortress” has been defined. In the event of separation, Lauren would receive “only” a flat -rate check of 50 million dollars which is little more than what he spent for the sumptuous wedding in Venice. In this way all Bezos has acquired before the Union was protected by any future claim of the consort.
But the prank between the two celebrities is only one of many, with dizzying figures at stake. Among the most famous we remember the historical one between Jackie Kennedy and the Greek owner Aristotle Onassis which provided for 170 clauses including a dowry of 600 thousand dollars for expensive travel and gifts, separate bedrooms and a bequest of 42 million dollars in the event of the death of her husband. But at the disappearance of Onassis, Jackie obtained “only” 26 million dollars since the Greek legislation imposed a roof of the sum that a foreign citizen could inherit. The agreement between Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones provides that the actress, in the event of a divorce, perceives 2.8 million dollars for each year of marriage plus 5 in case of infidelity of her husband. In some piar, unusual clauses are inserted. Mark Zuckerberg (Patron di Meta) and Priscilla Chan have agreed the right to at least one intimate appointment per week and a minimum of 100 minutes to spend alone, away from home or from work.
The agreements also serve to guarantee the stability of large companies that would be put into crisis by sales or divisions of shares with voting rights capable of moving control. Often assets cannot be easily divided or sold, such as the share capital of non-negotiable start-ups on public markets; Carried interest in Private Equity Funds; Royalties flows deriving from intellectual property and family trusts with complex distribution rules.
Without adequate planning of a premarital contract, the illiquidity of these assets can lead to painful compromises. Sophisticated legal tools are therefore needed to protect goods, commercial empires and dynasties. When the properties are allocated in different countries, it serves greater scruple: the agreement must be able to be applicable regardless of the place where divorce takes place.
The Wall Street Journal, interviewing some specialized lawyers on the topic, revealed even curious conditions. Robert Cohen, New York lawyer with a firm that manages dozens of premarital agreements per year for customers with assets over 100 million dollars, reported that some require the spouse not to fattee too much – for example, within 9 kilos compared to the wedding day – or to do sports four times a week. Others set pecuniary sanctions for infidelity. A lawyer recalled that a client asked for compensation for one million dollars for every betrayal. Randall Kessler, Atlanta’s divorce, told the same newspaper that a professional basketball player refused to establish sanctions in case of treason because “it is known that NBA players have extramarital relationships”.
On the occasion of the marriage between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, in 2022, it lasted just over two years, the rumor had circulated that the paleup contained a hot clause: Mandatory sex four times a week. There are those who prefer the expiry allowance: 5 million dollars in case of divorce after five years of marriage and 20 million dollars after 10. The confidentiality clauses are very widespread to prevent the ex from sharing intimate details, financial documents or embarrassing stories with medium details.
Obviously these agreements don’t only concern VIPs. They cost, of course, and for this reason Helloprenup has been created, a website – immediately very popular – in which consultations are provided to those Americans who cannot afford a noble law firm.
So far there has been talk of the bombastic American world. But instead of us that happens? “In the United States and also in France, Germany, Spain, the premarital pacts are recognized, regulated, subject to equity and transparency criteria, in Italy instead there is still no organic discipline,” comments the lawyer Paola Macchi of BSVA Associate Law Firm – Team Family, expert in the sector. “Our system does not recognize the agreements before the wedding that concern the preventive regulation of the consequences of divorce or separation.
This was stated by article 160 of the civil code: the rights and duties deriving from marriage, such as the obligation of loyalty, the burden of moral and material assistance, the obligation of cohabitation, cannot be the subject of renunciation or preventive pacts. In short, a maintenance allowance or a renunciation of the same, even less regulatory aspects relating to the future management of children, cannot be established before. Any agreement is prohibited that can condition the economic treatment in favor of the other spouse to any behaviors (such as loyalty), or even forcing the spouse to maintain this status, that is to say not to ask for divorce “.
Yet the jurisprudence is taking note of the increase in separations and therefore of the need to protect the assets. The Cassation made it on 21 July, with an ordinance. “He admitted the validity of agreements suitable for regulating asset relationships between the spouses in the event of the failure of the marriage, or agreements stipulated between spouses in the crisis phase as a separation already started where they do not read the fundamental and adequately proportionate rights” continues Macchi.
Then there is another fundamental rule indicated by the lawyer: «Thanks to the EU regulation, 2016/1103, if one of the spouses is foreign or has a double citizenship, the law applicable to the marriage regime can be chosen. In that case, a prank signed abroad could also have effects in Italy, if compliant with the foreign reference system and not in contrast with the principles of Italian public order “.
In short, something moves. And the lawyer recalls that in 2013 and 2018 bills were presented on the topic, “but they remained a dead letter. Yet in a context of growing international mobility, a legislative intervention is now necessary ».
So let’s go back to the initial question: could we replicate the model of the patron of Amazon from us? «If signed in Italy, the premarital agreement between Bezos and Sánchez would be, at least in part, null. The obligations of behavior, penalties and preventive renunciations to maintenance would not exceed the examination of the judges ». The ruling of the Cassation represents a step forward but always two steps back to the United States and the modernity of the new trends.
Like it or not, the unions jump more frequently, and the law all that remains is to protect the parties. As they say: in good and bad luck.
