FORMER Hollywood golden couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have finally decided who gets what a year after she filed for divorce.
Reports suggest the former Friends star will remain the sole owner of their £16.6m Beverly Hills mansion, while Brad - now in a relationship with actress Angelina Jolie - apparently gets control of the couple's lucrative film company, Plan B Productions, with Jennifer retaining only a "minor stake".
Brad and Jennifer's multi-million pound agreement may seem a thousand miles away from the divorce settlements reached by couples in the North-West.
For one thing, their huge wealth and envious lifestyle sets them apart. But their reported acrimonious arguments about who kept what is sadly familiar.
A generation ago, a typical couple shared a bank account and probably had joint savings or an endowment policy. Times have changed, however. Now they have a multitude of financial products.
And even unravelling arrangements such as joint bank accounts and credit cards can be fraught with bureaucratic frustrations.
Unusually for a Hollywood couple, Aniston and Pitt had decided not to enter into a pre-nuptial agreement. But family lawyer Lyn Ayrton says: "Their short, childless marriage is an ideal example of when such a contract would have been of benefit to both parties.
"Without it, the resulting reported settlement certainly appears less than equal - Aniston kept the house and Pitt retained the film company.
"Pre-nuptial agreements were once seen as the territory of celebrities rather than "ordinary folk". They are, though, becoming increasingly more accepted by couples who would rather calmly agree in advance what will happen to existing assets, than risk the prospect, however unlikely, of emotionally fuelled arguments following the breakdown of their relationship.
It is often the dividing up of spoils which causes the most conflict in a break-up. What most couples, and women in particular, do not realise is that, if a break-up turns sour, they have much more to lose than they think.
While many career-orientated women are now wise enough to maintain a degree of financial independence to avoid a cash crisis should divorce rear its ugly head, for others it can still be a doubly traumatic time.
