'Hollywood law' yet to find takers in India

Mumbai, May 6 (UNI) Married with an intention to divorce, Hollywood stars protect their fortunes by signing a Prenuptial agreement with their partner but the law is yet to find its place in the Indian legal system.

Reams of paper has been published about the divorce suits of popular Hollywood stars who make as many headlines with their divorce as they had done with their marriage.

''In the West people want to make sure that they get enough compensation after putting so many years of their lives into marriage,'' legal eagle Mahesh Jethmalani told UNI.

Liz Hurley-Arun Nayar, Sir Paul McCartney-Heather Mills, Pamela Anderson-Kid Rock, Catherine Zeta Jones-Michael Douglas, Britney Spears-Kevin Federline, Baywatch star David Hasselhoff and a host of other stars have all signed prenuptial agreeements before taking the final vows to ensure protection of millions of dollars of their fortunes.

Former Beatle McCartney who is embroiled in a divorce suit with former wife Mills may have to pay about 25 million dollars to her. The case is still pending.

Ram Bijlani, a High Court lawyer, says, ''It is not valid. We have no cases of pre-nups coming to us. After marriage there are cases for divorce, but not for pre-nups.'' According to Bankrate.com, a prenuptial accord is a contract between two people about to wed that spells out how assets will be distributed in the event of divorce or death. Such agreements have existed for thousands of years in some form or another, particularly in European and far Eastern cultures.

Financial experts and lawyers say, people who want to sign a prenup must be honest with each other and they must fully disclose their assets. If it turns out either person has hidden something, a judge can toss out the contract. One should also avoid coercion another reason why some pre-nups are rendered null and void.

''See, here in India when anybody gets divorced it is the wife who is running from pillar to post. The husband does not even disclose his full income. How does the wife get any proper compensation?,''Mr Jethmalani argues.

''A prenup seems like such a pessimistic way to start a marriage.

Nothing takes the romance out of a relationship like the word pre nup,'' says Arjun Pande, a city based lawyer.

Others feel, ''These things don't happen here. Prenups will not be valid here as we do not get married with the intention of getting divorced.'' When quizzed about live-in relationships, Mr Jethmalani said, ''People are living-in and maybe as our society becomes progressive we may have pre-nup agreements, but not until then.'' UNI