Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck on Tuesday, Aug. 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court, and they will have to divide their assets methodically. The couple has been living apart since May, but they have avoided discussing their relationship publicly and it wasn’t clear why a formal divorce filing was so slow to come. Now they are truly separating, and according to a report by NBC News they do not have a pre-nuptial agreement.
Lopez and Affleck have not commented publicly on their divorce so far, and there are no details about how they will split things up or what legal verbiage they are using. Their falling out has been documented over the last few months, though many reports are based on anonymous sources, public sightings and speculation. Back in May, paparazzi photographers noticed that Affleck was staying in a rental house, not the mansion that he and Lopez has purchased together when they got married. Things unraveled from there.
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Lopez and Affleck have only been married for about two years, so it’s possible that their wealth and assets aren’t too closely intertwined at this point. However, a prenuptial agreement would have made the divorce faster and more straightforward. The biggest shared asset between them was their “dream house” in Los Angeles, which they have already sold as a couple.
As news of their living situation spread, Lopez set out on the press tour for her Netflix original film Atlas. She refused to answer questions about her personal life, and was not happy when journalists tried to ask them anyway. The estranged pair wasย still seen together at events like Affleck’s children’s school play, but they returned to separate houses afterward.
At the end of May, Lopez abruptly canceled the U.S. leg of her tour, saying she needed time to “be with her children, family, and close friends.” While many commenters assumed this was related to her situation with Affleck, Variety reported that ticket sales were low, which may also have been a factor.
Reports about the reason for the falling out between Lopez and Affleck have been all over the place. In June, a friend of Lopez told The Sun that they could not agree on the trajectories of their careers. They said that Affleck felt Lopez was “overworking,” while he chose his projects more strategically. However, a report by InTouch around the same indicated that it had more to do with their different approaches to social media and personal privacy.
There were other factors reported or rumored throughout the summer as well, along with a mess of speculation. So far, Affleck and Lopez have not discussed their split publicly or given any details on the breakup. Their divorce filing is in its early stages, so it’s unclear when they will move forward.
