Divorcing Pink

Double platinum singer Pink and her husband of two years, motocross racer and former Surreal Life (VIA) star Carey Hart are headed for splitsville. 

Rumors that Hart, 33, was cheating on his pop star wife, whose real name is Alecia Moore, 28, began last August. Now the couple confirms through the singer’s publicist, Michele Schweitzer, that their marriage is over, even though their “friendship has never been stronger.” Those feelings of friendship will be good news for their bank accounts come April. According to financial planners, divorcing couples who plan the tax returns of their final year together, often keep more of their own money.

“Treat your to be ex-spouse as an ally, with the government as the third party,” says Gregg Herman, Chair of American Bar Association’s Family Law Section.  In other words, do your tax planning with your future “ex” and you’re both likely to save money. For example, a couple gets a $500,000 profit tax exclusion when selling their home, whereas individually you can only exclude half of that. So it might be advantageous to sell your home before the divorce is final and divvy up the profits. 

Although not as relevant to rich celebrity couples as to the rest of us, the handling of retirement funds in a divorce is important. They should be tax neutral in separating assets, which means take the tax consequences into account when calculating what each portion is really worth. “Say you have a stock account and you’re going to divide that, know what you’re getting, the tax bases, what you have to pay if you sell it,” says Herman. “And, conversely, if there are losses, take that into account because you can offset a certain amount against income.”