Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesWho needs a prenup more, Kim Kardashian or Kris Humphries?
—Hacks, Canada, via the inbox
Where are your priorities, son?
Kim Kardashian plans to dump her last name when she marries Kris Humphries! She's killing the long, elegant line of first-and-last K names that her mom worked for years to craft! Kim's kids will suffer under clunky monikers like Khandice Kharline Khandahar Humphries, and you're worried about money?
Well, fine:
Let's look at Kardashian's assets. (Go ahead. Get the giggles out of your system. I'll wait.) Kardashian is worth a reported $35 million, thanks in part to endorsements, appearances, her reality empire and her perfume line.
Humphries has an estimated net worth of $8 million, including his salary with the New York Nets, as well as a few burger places he reportedly co-owns with his folks in Minnesota. (Another report indicates that Humphries has earned $16 million in his 7-year career.)
Kim would not comment when we asked, but the engaged couple is reportedly negotiating a prenup, which, for Kardashian, would be wise.
California state law dictates that Kardashian's current $35 million will remain hers in the event of a divorce, but if her businesses earn more within that marriage, half of those earnings could go to Humphries.
"She would need the prenup more," says attorney Laura Zwicker, who chairs Greenberg Glusker's Family/Strategic Wealth Planning Group. "Not only because she has more assets, but because she has some business in partnership with her sisters."
That's right:
Khloé and Kourtney and all those other K.'s need looking after, too. If Kardashian doesn't shield her co-owned businesses with a prenup, Humphries could try to stake a claim in Kardashian's shares in the event of a divorce, leaving Kardashian's sisters unwilling partners with an ex-brother-in-law. (Ditto if Kardashian wanted to claim a piece of Humphries' family burger joints.)
In other words, "it's not just Kim, but Kim's family that needs protection," Zwicker says.