- Melania Trump is reportedly renegotiating the terms of her prenuptial agreement with Donald Trump.
- A divorce attorney told Insider that Donald Trump may have spearheaded the renegotiations.
- An agreement can be changed to keep marital property out of the hands of creditors.
Donald Trump's looming legal troubles may have prompted the former president and his wife Melania Trump to once again revisit their prenuptial agreement in an effort to protect his financial assets ahead of impending and likely contentious litigation.
Trump currently faces four criminal indictments, including two federal indictments, as well as a civil action in Manhattan, in which a judge this week ordered the Trump Organization's New York corporate charters be revoked.
"People are speculating that Trump may be losing a lot of money in this New York suit," Harriet Newman Cohen, a high-profile divorce attorney, told Insider. "Not to mention the millions of dollars he's spending on attorneys in suits all over the country."
A report from Page Six on Thursday cited two anonymous sources who said Melania Trump had "quietly" renegotiated the terms of her prenup over the last year ahead of Trump's multiple legal cases and the 2024 presidential election.
Cohen, who represented former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as well as the former wives of the Weinstein brothers in their respective divorces, said the timing would track.
"I am certain that post nuptial agreements have already been signed or are in the works," said Cohen, who is not privy to specific details of the Trumps' prenup.
Insider was unable to independently confirm the report. Representatives for Donald Trump and acquaintances of Melania Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Renegotiating prenups is common practice among high-profile partners, even those who aren't headed toward divorce, attorneys told Insider.
But "there is no divorce talk, no talk of her leaving him, no talk of her running away," R. Couri Hay, a society publicist and social acquaintance of Melania Trump, told Insider.
"There is talk of wanting to make sure she and her son are stable and secure with all these lawsuits and judgements," he added.
Two attorneys on Thursday echoed Hay's sentiments. But Cohen said it's more plausible that it was Trump and his attorneys who spearheaded possible prenup renegotiations as a preventative measure.
"I don't think Melania has gone to him and said we need to secure this for Barron," Cohen said. "I believe that Donald Trump and his financial advisors are very, very worried about what's happening in all these cases."
Bill Beslow, a high-powered New York City divorce lawyer who represented Marla Maples in her 1999 split from Trump, told Insider that nefarious motivations can come into play in prenup renegotiations. An agreement can be changed to keep marital property out of the hands of creditors.
"The spouse who is having financial difficulties or facing financial difficulties may want to transfer assets out of his or her name," Beslow said.
"That would be all with the view toward avoiding the seizure of those assets," he added.
But like all negotiations, prenup revisitations include an element of quid-pro-quo, Cohen said.
"If she needs something from him, like to secure her child's future, then he gets something back from her," she said.
Such provisions could include a requirement that Melania Trump campaign alongside her husband or live in the White House should he win again.
"Quid is the money coming to their child," Cohen said. "Quo is that she's got to work."
Laura Italiano contributed to this report.
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By: [email protected] (Erin Snodgrass)
Title: Melania Trump renegotiating her prenup doesn't signal divorce — it could actually be a maneuver to help Donald amid his legal troubles
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/melania-trump-renegotiating-prenup-doesnt-signal-divorce-2023-9
Published Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2023 12:30:02 +0000
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