Colorado music fans who were around in the 1970s will remember Fleetwood Mac. The group’s drummer, Mick Fleetwood, was back in the news recently with reports that he has filed for legal separation from his wife of 17 years.
The papers were filed in court in California; there, as in Colorado, parties can file for a legal separation in lieu of a divorce. Just as in a divorce, the same decisions have to be made with respect to child custody, spousal maintenance and property division, but there is no actual dissolution of marriage.
The 65-year-old Fleetwood and his wife, Lynn Susan Frankel Fleetwood, were married in 1995. The couple has twin daughters who are now 11. Fleetwood has requested joint physical custody of the girls, but he is requesting that his wife have physical custody.
This high-profile couple will have to address some complex asset division issues. Fleetwood is requesting that he be awarded all music royalties and other earnings from before the couple wed. This is not surprising, since all such property he brought to the marriage would be separate property under California law, as it would be under Colorado law.
In Colorado, when high-income couples divorce or separate, the asset valuation and asset division process can be daunting. The parties have to make an inventory of all their assets, including bank accounts, real estate and business interests, and then determine what is marital property and what is separate. Then the marital property must be valued and divided equitably between the parties. The advice of an attorney who is experienced in high asset divorces and property disputes can be invaluable in cases like this.
Source: USA Today, “Mick Fleetwood, wife separate after 17 years,” April 10, 2013
