Why's it so hard for celebrities to get divorced during lockdown?

Top matrimonial attorneys are reporting a spike in divorce inquiries since lockdown began.

Famous names to file for divorce in the past few weeks include Kristin Cavallari, Mary-Kate Olsen and Jaime King (who also asked for a restraining order against her husband Kyle Newman).

Mary-Kate Olsen is the only one residing in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, which is making her divorce more complicated.

On April 17, Olsen, 33, signed papers requesting a divorce from her husband of four and a half years, Oliver Sarkozy, 50. Due to COVID-19, New York City courts have not been accepting divorce filings unless it was an emergency.

On May 13, Olsen and her legal team decided the situation was dire enough to ask for an emergency order to file for divorce out of fear Sarkozy would force her out of their shared apartment. However, the judge rejected it. So what happens next?

Mitch Gordon, founding partner of Bradford & Gordon, a family law firm in Chicago, told Insider, "Because New York has been hit so hard by COVID, I would assume that it will take longer for courts to open. Likewise, the courts that are dealing with emergency filings are, like those in Chicago, really prioritizing true, true emergencies - kids in danger, spouses being abused, etc. Mary-Kate Olsen is an extremely affluent individual who, to my knowledge, hasn't alleged any abuse by her husband (and vice versa). The courts are probably not in any huge rush to accommodate them. It's not like Mary-Kate is going to be homeless."

In her filing, Olsen said Sarkozy was "forcing" her out of their home by terminating the lease without her knowing. She wrote, "I am petrified that my husband is trying to deprive me of the home that we have lived in and if he is successful, I will not only lose my home but I risk losing my personal property as well." Could Sarkozy actually do this?

Gordon said, "Technically if the apartment is marital property (that is, owned or leased by both spouses), neither of them has any right to force out each other. The only situation in which one spouse could 'force out' another is if there are allegations of abuse or endangerment, and in that case, the court would issue an order of protection to force the allegedly-abusive spouse to leave the home."

Olsen also reportedly has an iron-clad prenup to protect her businesses, clothing labels The Row (which sells t-shirts for $950) and Elizabeth and James.

Gordon said, "Mary-Kate has plenty of other places she can live - she is a millionaire. Also, the couple doesn't have children, so no children are in danger. Definitely not an emergency situation. If this were a situation with an indigent family or even a middle class family, then I could see a judge possibly giving it emergency status if the husband terminated the lease, as supposedly Sarkozy did, without the wife's knowledge, leaving the wife with nowhere to live."

Chicago based divorce attorney Richard Kulerski added, "Mary Kate Olsen filed a Petition alleging that her circumstances constituted an emergency, and the judge ruled against her. The ruling was likely based on the fact that Mary Kate did not claim that her personal safety would be jeopardized if a court order wasn’t entered to protect her. The judge heard the facts (or read them via affidavit) and apparently felt that extraordinary court relief was unnecessary and that Mary Kate would have an adequate remedy at law if her husband did tamper with their accounts."

So what are Olsen's next steps? Well, it's going to a bit of a waiting game, so she better get comfortable with Netflix like the rest of us.

"Wealthy and high-profile people are used to getting their way, but divorce court can be the 'great equalizer.' Mary-Kate will likely have to wait until the courts open or until they are doing more video filings like they are here in Chicago. I don't think a judge who is trying to protect abused spouses and endangered children is going to prioritze her case right now," Gordon told Insider.