November 21, 2008

Madonna And Guy Ritchie To Finalize Divorce In London On Friday

By Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)

Less than a month after announcing plans to end their eight-year marriage, Madonna and filmmaker Guy Ritchie are slated to finalize their divorce on Friday in London.

According to a Reuters report, the proceedings will take place in a High Court in London where "quickie" divorces are granted. Madonna and Ritchie are entitled to attend, but the news service said high-profile celebrities tend not to show up in court.

Details of the terms of the divorce between the world-famous pop singer, 50, and the Sherlock Holmes director, 40, have not been made public, but they have a joint fortune that's been estimated at more than $525 million. They have an 8-year-old son, Rocco, and an adopted Malawian son, David Banda. Madonna also has a daughter, Lourdes, from a previous relationship. The custody arrangements for the children have not yet been announced, but reports in the media have stated that Madonna prefers to live in the United States after years of shuttling back and forth from England, while Ritchie prefers to stay in his native Britain.

Madonna's London-based publicist declined to comment on any specifics of the divorce to Reuters, including how the couple will split their fortune. The Times Online reported that Madonna will keep the bulk of her more than $500 million fortune, and that the couple have resolved the question of where the children will live, with the two boys sharing time between the US and England and Lourdes living with her mother in New York. Ritchie, who is estimated to have his own fortune worth more than $50 million, would have been entitled under divorce law to up to 50 percent of the money earned during the marriage, but friends told the paper that he has opted to take very little of his wife's money.

An unnamed friend of the couple told the Times, "He could have hugely boosted his bank balance and set himself up for life, but he already feels he has enough money. ... He also didn't want the whole thing dragging on in the public gaze for months and months and, in any case, his priority was the children's future."

A source told People, however, that the financial details reported in British papers were inaccurate. "He's going to get a huge windfall, contrary to what's being reported," an unnamed source told the magazine. "He's getting a lot of money from the settlement. He's not the gentleman he's portraying himself as."

After several years of speculation about their marriage and denials of an impending divorce - exacerbated by news earlier this year that the singer was spotted getting close with New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez - the couple finally confirmed that they were splitting in October.