No Prenup

According to Cinematical, "As you surely know by now, "people" for Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson admitted on Wednesday that the pop-reality couple have really, truly, finally, called it quits. This wasn't exactly an unexpected development, although I'm sure a low-level MTV exec and one or two members of the Lachey family likely shed a tear.

But here's a new twist: according to a piece that aired on this morning's installment of Marketplace (the podcast is not yet online, but I imagine it will be by this afternoon), and in defiance of the advice of Kanye West, Nick and Jessica never signed a prenup. This means that Nick, whose career is, has been, and likely always will be infinitely less-hot than that of his soon-to-be-ex-wife, is entitled, under California law, to a settlement amounting to half of her total net worth. One imagines that Jessica's bank balance is quite sizable – she earned a reported $35 million last year alone.

So here's an interesting little conundrum: one could slag Nick off as the talentless half of the duo, and whilst he certainly didn't have much to do with Jess' Dukes of Hazzard paycheck, the marriage was a huge element of Jessica's star sign. On those terms, I don't think it would be untoward to suggest that a 50% payout would be more than earned."

Source: Cinematical