Nicholas Sparks, critically acclaimed author, gets to keep his North Carolina
mansion after he and his soon-to-be ex-wife recently signed the deed over
to a trust controlled by Mr. Sparks.
Sparks is best known as author of popular romance books such as
The Notebook, The Rescue, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, and
Nights in Rodanthe, which were subsequently made into blockbuster hits. Sparks and his wife
separated in January of 2015 after 30 years of marriage and raising 5
children together.
Reports of this amicable property division were released October 13, 2015,
and rumor has it that Ms. Sparks simply handed over her interest in the
24,000 square-foot mansion and beautiful estate, known as “Trent
Acres”. There have been reports that Ms. Sparks purchased a $1.1
million mansion, however, it is unclear what funds were used for the purchase
and reports are unclear as to what, if anything, Ms. Sparks received in
exchange for her share of Trent Acres.
Had the Sparks been subject to Ontario law, the division of assets would
likely have been determined in accordance with Ontario’s
Family Law Act (“FLA”). Under the FLA, each spouse is generally considered to
have an equal interest in family property acquired during the marriage.
In order to determine which spouse ends up with which assets at the end
of a marriage, the FLA sets out a method of calculating the value of each
spouse’s Net Family Property.
In order to accurately calculate Net Family Property, each spouse must
provide financial disclosure to reveal every asset and liability they
had on the date of marriage and the separation date. The total value of
assets, less debts, that a spouse had on the date of their marriage are
then subtracted from the total value of same on the date of their separation.
There are some exceptions for property that is not counted in this equation.
Once each spouse’s net family property has been determined, the two
values are then compared to determine the difference between the value
accrued by each spouse during the marriage. The spouse who accrued more
wealth during the marriage then generally owes a payment in the amount
of half of the difference between the two values, known as an equalization
payment, to the spouse who accrued less wealth during the marriage.
Given that Mr. Sparks has an estimated net worth of over $30 million and
the fact that he earned a significant portion of that during his marriage,
it is unlikely that the value of Ms. Sparks’s $1.1 million mansion
would come even close to the equalization payment that she would receive
under Ontario law.