Pre-nup or bitter divorce battle?

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Shweta Tiwari

When Katie Holmes filed for a divorce that seemed the end of the monetary story, but when Sweta Tiwari filed for a divorce — the money saga began in right earnest. While many Indian celebrity couples have been struggling with payout and asset settlements after their divorces Tom and Katie already seem to be back to their normal lives, thanks to the pre-nuptial agreement they had signed before tying the knot in 2006.

May be there is a lesson to be learnt here from the Hollywood couple.
However, it seems that India is also taking the cue. Divorce lawyer Hasan Anzar says that he frequently comes across couples who work out divorce terms before tying the knot. “About five years ago pre-nups were almost unheard of. The Indian law does not support pre-nups. If one of the partners refuses to abide by the terms of the pre-nup, the agreement holds no water,” he says and adds that pre-nups will take some time to become a usual phenomenon.
But high profile divorces seem to come at a price. Shweta Tiwari is baffled at how her husband, Raja, can ask her for alimony. Bollywood has a long list of some costly divorces like that of actor Arvind Swamy who shelled out a whopping Rs 75 lakh as divorce alimony and Rs 1 lakh as monthly maintenance. Sanjay Dutt who gave up a flat estimated to be worth Rs 8 crores amongst other things. Then there was the case of Sunjay Kapoor who came to Mumbai with the divorce papers and Karishma Kapoor allegedly demanded Rs 7 crore in alimony. And Prabhu Deva recently agreed to give up properties collectively worth crores to his wife.
So, can alimony settlements get more agonising? Raghubir Yadav — a trial court has ordered the attachment of the actor’s properties after he repeatedly failed to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs 40,000 to his estranged wife — will definitely agree.
With an increasing list of divorce disputes isn’t it high time we too began signing pre-nups? Yes, says actress and singer Ila Arun. “We always shy away from talking about such issues. But I think, it’s not a bad idea to work out a division of assets before getting into a marriage,” she says.
One reason why Indians shy away from the idea of talking about pre-nups could be because it may come across as being non-serious in commitment, says marriage counsellor Kamal Khurana. Actress Kirti Kulhari, who was seen with Kalki Koechlin in Shaitan, says that the Indian mindset is still not ready to decide the terms of a divorce. “To many, including me, it’s like entering into a marriage with an exit option. I will not go for this option,” she says.
Like Kirti, there are many who will not. But maybe Sweta Tiwari and Raghubir Yadav would like to go back in time and sign a pre-nup?