Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s divorce should stay amicable — as long as the True Blood star doesn’t try and challenge the prenup, legal experts say.
Both acknowledged they have a prenup in place in court filings. Vergara is asking the court to protect her assets by honoring that agreement — which should come as no surprise. In 2020, the Modern Family star was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, according to Forbes, raking in $43 million.
Vergara is seeking to retain all of her earnings from before she wed Manganiello, as well as any of her own income from while they were married, reports claim. The sum should be high. After Modern Family ended in 2020, the actress went on to be a judge on America’s Got Talent. Aside from money, Vergara also asked that items like jewelry, artwork and “other personal effects” remain hers, according to People.
“Sofia has put Joe on notice that she expects him to follow the terms of their premarital agreement. This is a common request of the early stages of a divorce,” celebrity divorce lawyer Chris Melcher, a partner of Walzer Melcher & Yoda, tells Yahoo Entertainment.
Manganiello has the right to challenge the prenup — like Kevin Costner’s estranged wife, Christine is doing — and Vergara would have to prove under California law he signed it voluntarily.
Family lawyer Katherine Miller, of the Miller Law Group, notes that Vergara’s filing “is fairly straightforward” in terms of celebrity divorces.
“Since there is a prenup in place and because the couple has no children, so long as neither of them challenges the validity of the prenup the divorce negotiation should only involve issues unresolved by the prenup itself… like a custody plan for Bubbles,” she explains. “Pet custody is an evolving area of law and the guidelines are grey.”