Los Angeles Divorce: Documents filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court reveal that British actress Talulah Riley agreed to a settlement with PayPal founder Elon Musk, in which she receives $4.2 million from their divorce, TMZ recently reported. Musk is divorcing his second wife after less than two years of marriage.
Does $4 million seem like a fair divorce settlement? It is a hefty sum, but maybe not compared to the $2 billion that Musk is reportedly worth. Had Riley not settled, she may have received a larger award in court. Typically, a court will consider factors like the length of the marriage, standard of living, and the contributions from each spouse when considering how much should be awarded. By quickly settling, however, Riley avoided dragging out the divorce in public. And $4 million is still a considerable amount of money to receive from such a short marriage.
The Los Angeles Divorce Court (County Superior Court) deals with many high-profile and celebrity divorces worth millions of dollars. Due to their extremely high incomes, many celebrities in the Los Angeles/Hollywood scene sign prenuptial agreements to protect themselves before entering into a marriage. Riley seems content with the $4.2million figure, because her lawyers haven’t contested the offer from Musk.
Riley received $500K up front, $900K after her lawyers signed the judgement documents, and she’ll receive the rest of the money over a nine-year span. The LA County Superior Court docs also revealed that Riley will receive $700K after one year, $280K for years two through eight, and a final payment of $140K. The divorce will become official on September 27.