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Realty television star Porsha Stewart has recently told reporters that she was surprised when she heard that her husband had filed for divorce. This revelation surprised a lot of fans, since most people are under the impression that divorce is always foreseeable. However, it is more common than many realize to have a discontented spouse conceal their feelings until they decide to end the marriage.

This could be for a variety of reasons, such as not having an interest in reconciliation. In other situations a spouse might conceal their intentions in order to investigate the couple’s joint holdings or to restructure their own assets in preparation for a divorce.

While this type of behavior is often not itself illegal or considered misconduct in a divorce proceeding, evidence that a spouse intentionally hid assets in order to reduce the other’s share of marital property may be taken into account by a family law judge.

It is important to note that there are no allegations of wrongdoing by either party in Ms. Stewart’s divorce. In fact, the two are still living together in their shared home while the beginning stages of the divorce are being worked out. Couples who choose to do this might do so for financial reasons, or they might do so in order to avoid a presumption that one or the other of them will be retaining the family home as their residence.

As these examples illustrate, celebrity divorces can seem far removed from the lives of the average Louisiana reader, but in fact the issues inherent in a divorce are often the same whether they are played out on television or in the privacy of one’s own home.

Source: Hollywood Life, “Porsha Stewart Calls Divorcing Kordell ‘Heartbreaking’ on ‘RHOA’ Premier,” Andy Swift, Nov. 4, 2013.