Shriver Takes First Official Step Toward Divorce From Schwarzenegger

No one was terribly surprised when the news broke last week that Maria Shriver had officially filed to end her 25-year marriage with celebrity and former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. While many supporters rooted for the couple to “work things out” it appears that Arnold’s 14-year paternity secret involving a child that he fathered with one of the couple’s household staff members was just too much to bear for Shriver.

According to news reports and court documents, the divorce papers that Shriver filed in the Los Angeles Superior court list “irreconcilable differences” as the reason why she was seeking a divorce. Allegedly, the couple did not enter into a prenuptial agreement prior to their marriage. That could make for an interesting process to follow the divorce filing.

Maria must now look to the court system to handle the property division between the couple. As it turns out, property is not the only thing Shriver is seeking in the divorce. She also wants primary custody of the couple’s two minor children. They also have two adult children together.

Prior to the filing of the divorce decree, the famous couple decided to separate and live apart from one another until they decided where the relationship was headed. In a recent television interview, the mother of Schwarzenegger’s love child expressed her wish that the couple stay together.

She also reportedly commented on the fact that Shriver suspected that Schwarzenegger was the father of her child way before the couple split and ultimately found out the truth before the official separation. Some of the public suspect that the couple wanted to keep the marriage together for the sake of their high-profile careers. What do you think?

As always, we will keep you posted when there are updates in this divorce case.

Source

ABC News: “Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger: Shriver Files for Divorce,” Michael S. James and Susan James, 1 Jul. 2011