Chapter 15: Splitting Up
Divorce and Remarriage

Chuck and Di started out as the perfect couple – everybody around them knew that each of them brought into the marriage something the other lacked – her glamour, his powerful family connections. But after a few years and a few kids, it became clear that their marriage wasn’t so perfect after all, and both began seeing other people on the side. They separated and began tentative talks about the divorce; their marriage was over in all but name. And Di was in love with someone else.

But when Di was killed in a car accident along with her lover, her estate didn’t go to her kids or family, or even to her sister or parents. It went to Chuck, because they had the usual arrangement in which the spouse receives everything in the dead partner’s estate. And Chuck spent a good deal of that money on his mother (who had never liked Di and interfered in their marriage) and his new lover, Camie, whom Di had detested.

Even “perfect” couples don’t always make it till death does them part. It’s hard to imagine in the glow of the wedding photos, the scent of the bouquets and the showers of rice – but realistically, everyone should consider what happens if the perfect marriage doesn’t last.