What legal professionals say is on the desk within the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce marriage

When a pop icon and an NFL celebrity fall in love, the world doesn’t simply cheer on the fairy story — they marvel what’s going to be written within the tremendous print. Now that Travis Kelce has formally popped the query to Taylor Swift, hypothesis is already swirling about what a prenuptial settlement would possibly seem like for the well-known couple.

Swift is in a monetary league of her personal. The self-made mogul has constructed an estimated $1.6 billion empire, in accordance with Forbes, from touring, multiplatinum albums, record-shattering streaming numbers and a slew of profitable model partnerships. She (lastly!) owns the rights to her music catalog, no small feat within the trade, together with a powerful actual property portfolio that stretches from L.A. to Rhode Island to New York. Add in merchandise and a degree of cultural affect that virtually prints cash, and also you begin to see why her web price is as intently watched as her love life.

Kelce is probably not a billionaire, however he’s simply one of many NFL’s highest earners with an estimated web price of round $70 million, per Forbes. The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish is a two-time Tremendous Bowl champ and future Corridor of Famer, however his enterprise off the sphere is simply as robust. Between endorsement offers with manufacturers like Nike and Pfizer, his $100 million contract for his New Heights podcast with brother, Jason Kelce, and numerous investments, Kelce’s monetary playbook is strong and rising.

I spoke with three prime divorce attorneys, who broke down what a high-profile prenup for the pair may embody — and the important thing questions each Swift and Kelce ought to be asking.

Chris Melcher, movie star divorce lawyer

While you’re Taylor Swift, having “too many” income streams is a really actual (and really enviable) downside — a minimum of in relation to planning a prenup.

“As a result of Taylor has so many streams of earnings referring to her work and model, any settlement to share marital earnings may result in a dispute over what these earnings had been,” Melcher tells Yahoo.

In different phrases, when earnings comes from albums, excursions, merchandise, actual property and types, readability is every part.

In fact, for Swift, an important asset is her music. Melcher places it bluntly: “A premarital settlement might be important to guard the mental property that Taylor creates in the course of the marriage.”

With out one, inventive work produced after the marriage could possibly be thought-about joint property, and within the hopefully unlikely occasion of a divorce, which may imply splitting royalties and even management of her catalog, a nightmare state of affairs Melcher has seen play out for different artists.

“Dividing mental property with a former partner is the final resort,” he says.

One of the best follow, Melcher says, is to maintain every partner’s earnings separate however possibly earmark a joint account or fund for giant shared purchases (suppose: a home, main investments or the occasional non-public island). That approach, a pair can share in one another’s success with out entangling each greenback.

Even with two high-net-worth people, all of it comes all the way down to being crystal clear about what’s “yours, mine and ours.” Amongst many movie star {couples}, Melcher says, there’s no marital or group property in any respect — besides possibly a joint fund for shared purchases or tasks, so the pair can nonetheless “have one thing collectively as a pair.”

And on this planet of megastars, privateness and status are as invaluable as money. “Due to Taylor’s fame, she is going to want safety towards disclosure of non-public details about their marriage or life-style,” Melcher says. The answer, he believes, is NDAs and confidentiality clauses, generally with severe monetary tooth.

“It’s much more efficient to have a holdback of money that will be paid to the opposite social gathering years after a divorce, provided that no violation of the NDA occurred,” he says, citing Mel Gibson’s well-known association as a precedent.

When love, cash and fame collide, even the fortunately ever after eventualities require some severe authorized choreography. As Melcher sums up, “Nondisclosure of non-public info could also be a key part of this settlement. They’ll additionally conform to different dispute decision provisions that will maintain any divorce non-public.”

When you suppose enjoying within the NFL is excessive stakes, strive navigating marriage as certainly one of America’s most recognizable athletes.

Kelce’s profession isn’t nearly soccer; his monetary future depends on endorsement offers, sponsorships and a picture that’s as marketable as his gameday stats. In keeping with household regulation lawyer Grey Ellis, a prenup can do rather a lot to guard that model.

“Most states observe the Uniform Prenuptial Settlement Act, which permits for a contract to restrict or utterly waive pursuits in any mental property, together with identify, likeness and picture of the opposite partner,” Ellis, founder and managing accomplice of Ellis Household Regulation, explains. For Kelce, meaning future earnings from every part, like Tremendous Bowl advertisements to podcast sponsors, can keep protected as his separate property, irrespective of how massive the following chapter will get.

However athletes like Kelce additionally should plan for the sudden: career-ending accidents, early retirement and people important post-NFL enterprise alternatives. Ellis says it’s important to handle issues like private harm/incapacity advantages in a prenup, and he usually advises shoppers to specify that these advantages “will stay the separate property of the named particular person.” In a world the place fortunes can change in a single day, that’s a nonnegotiable safeguard.

Being within the highlight additionally comes with its personal set of challenges — particularly in regard to privateness. Ellis factors out that it’s now “very typical for folks of serious stature and within the public eye to incorporate NDAs in prenuptial agreements, with liquidated damages clauses not restricted to proof of loss or different worth of the damages.” Translation: in case you spill secrets and techniques after a cut up, there’s an actual monetary penalty.

In fact, not each monetary query will be answered in a single authorized settlement — particularly if Swift and Kelce determine to launch joint companies or philanthropic tasks collectively. Within the occasion of a cut up, it’s essential for each the prenup and enterprise paperwork to make use of the identical language so intentions are clear and legally enforceable.

Ellis says even essentially the most ironclad settlement isn’t set in stone, as prenups “will be modified by consent of the events in writing, typically requiring a notarization.” Flexibility is vital.

Nancy Chemtob, movie star divorce lawyer

In terms of love, Chemtob desires to consider within the fairy story as a lot as anybody.

“Actually, I hope all Taylor and Travis are doing proper now could be having fun with their engagement,” Chemtob, founder and managing accomplice of Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda, tells Yahoo. However as a seasoned divorce lawyer who has represented many high-profile shoppers, she is aware of actuality (and enterprise managers) has a approach of crashing even the happiest of unions.

As soon as the joy fades a bit, it’s typically the enterprise managers or members of the family who remind {couples} {that a} prenup is perhaps a good suggestion. With this a lot cash and fame within the combine, it’s simply sensible to have a plan in place for the longer term.

For Swift, the stakes are particularly excessive. “Her music and mental property — every part she’s written and now owns—is totally essential to guard,” Chemtob emphasizes, particularly her music catalog, which she fought so laborious to reclaim. “Something she created earlier than the connection ought to stay hers.”

A prenup’s job is to spell out precisely what occurs with future work, so new songs, excursions and tasks aren’t up for grabs if issues ever go south. “That’s just about what a prenuptial settlement would say: What’s mine previous to the wedding is mine, and what I earn after is mine too.”

Some issues are simple, like a doc outlining how cash and inventive belongings will be clearly divided. What could be extra difficult are household issues. Ought to the 2 have kids after which divorce, prenups don’t assist type by what will be difficult custody preparations.

“You may by no means put something about kids or visitation in a prenuptial settlement or a postnuptial settlement,” she says. “That’s not enforceable.”

The underside line

No matter particulars Kelce and Swift might hash out within the prenup, we, the general public, should not have any thought what it says. Solely the attorneys and shut advisers ever see the true phrases. On the finish of the day, a prenup is all about peace of thoughts.

“With this degree of wealth and success, it’s simply being real looking to need certainty,” Chemtob says. “A prenup is there to guard each events. Having a plan doesn’t imply you like one another any much less — it simply means you’re ready.”

Whereas Chemtob is rooting for a cheerful ending, in relation to high-profile love tales, she’s additionally rooting for a plan.