US elections: Melania Trump may have updated her prenuptial agreement in 2017

US President Donald Trump’s time in the White House is expected to end in a matter of weeks and the question of what he and Melania will do has been the subject of much discussion.

The Trumps are due to be out of the White House on January 20, when Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next president of the United States.

Even if Trump still refuses to accept the election result for that time, officials have said he is likely to be removed by force.

So, one way or another, Trump will leave the White House. Where this leaves you, Melania and her 14-year-old son Barron is another question.

Former Trump aide and The Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault Newman recently claimed that the couple’s 15-year marriage was coming to an end.

“Melania is counting every minute until he leaves office and she can get a divorce,” Newman said according to the Daily Mail.

Newman’s claims have sparked new speculation about the couple’s prenup and what Melania would get if they divorced.

Earlier this year, lifestyle magazine Town & Country asked several high-profile divorce attorneys for their professional opinions on what type of prenuptial agreement the First Lady would have signed.

Peter Stambleck, a partner at Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan in New York, told the publication that he would have recommended a “title control prenuptial agreement,” which he says is something that wealthy people usually get before marriage.

“It makes it very clear that, in the event of a divorce, everything in his name will be his and everything in his name will be hers,” Stambleck said.

“Billionaires have complicated asset structures. They have shell companies, LLCs, investments in other companies, and it is very, very complicated.

“One of the main purposes of a prenup is to avoid having to share that, but also to avoid the headache of producing all the documents and having accountants come in and examine everything. Theoretically, that’s what could happen in absence of a prenuptial agreement “.

Jacqueline Newman, managing partner at Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, said Melania would likely be Barron’s primary caregiver in the event of a divorce.

“In this situation, if you have $ 50 million [NZ$73m], she can afford to buy something. But $ 50 million, while definitely a lot of money, in New York City, for what he used to do, he couldn’t replicate what he has now, “he told the publication.

“He probably had a good idea of ​​the kind of lifestyle they would lead, so I imagine the payment would be quite generous.”

Melania’s financial arrangement if her marriage to Trump ends could be even more comfortable now. It is suggested that she may have negotiated a better deal when her husband took office in 2017.

When Trump moved into the White House in 2017, his wife and son stayed in New York.

At the time, Melania said it was because she didn’t want to interrupt Barron’s school year.

Earlier this year, Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan published her new book “The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump,” and in it she claims there was another reason for the delay in the move.

The book claims that the First Lady used details of her husband’s alleged infidelities that emerged in 2016 to secure a better financial future for herself and Barron.

“I wanted written proof that when it came to financial opportunities and inheritances, Barron would be treated as an equal to Trump’s three oldest children,” Jordan wrote.

The couple finally settled into the White House in early June 2017, and Melania seemed visibly happier in mid-2018, according to the book.

“According to three people close to Trump, a key reason was that she had finally reached a new and significantly improved financial agreement with Trump, which had left her in a markedly better financial position,” he wrote.

Thomas Kretchmar, an associate at Chemtob Moss & Forman, told Town & Country that it was possible for the spouses to “modify the terms of an existing prenuptial agreement in response to a major event.”

“It’s done in a document called a post-nuptial agreement. Sometimes post-nuptials are used as an interim solution for an eventual divorce,” he said.

“Other times they are really just a review or refinement of existing rights in light of a change in the circumstances of the spouses.”

Trump’s first ex-wife, Ivana, successfully challenged his prenuptial agreement when their marriage broke up.

As a result, he received $ 10 million in cash, $ 650,000 a year for child support, and an apartment in New York.

His second wife, Marla Maples, received much less when they separated and reportedly received $ 2 million.