It has been reported that, when they divorced in 2012, Tom Cruise insisted that his wife Katie Holmes agree (amongst other things) not to date in public for a period of five years. In return, Ms Holmes apparently received £3.6 million in child support, plus £3.8 million for herself.
Whether such an agreement was really entered into, and if so why, we may never know. Whatever, we are now, just over five years later, seeing photographs in the popular and celebrity media apparently showing Ms Holmes out with her new partner, actor Jamie Foxx.
So, could such an agreement happen over here?
Well, it is certainly quite possible for the parties here to enter into an agreement of this nature. The problem, however, might come should the party agreeing not to date in public does so, and the other party seeks to enforce the agreement through the courts. Would the courts here be prepared to enforce such an agreement?
This seems somewhat doubtful. Restraining a person from dating in public is a restriction upon their liberty, and it is difficult to imagine a circumstance in which a court here would consider such a restriction to be justified, and certainly not for such a long period as five years.
Even if the agreement was intended to protect Cruise and Holmes’ child Suri, that does not necessarily mean that the court would uphold it. One of the other matters that Mr Cruise reportedly insisted upon was that Ms Holmes not let any boyfriend near Suri. It is not unusual here for one parent to want to stop the other from bringing their child into contact with a new partner (and perhaps even from finding out about a new partner). However, the court will normally only agree with such a restriction if it were shown that coming into contact with a particular new partner was detrimental to the welfare of the child. A blanket restriction banning contact with any partner would not usually be considered appropriate or necessary.
In short, if you want your ex to enter into such an agreement here, be prepared for problems if they don’t keep to it!
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Image: Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes, by Jay Tamboli, licensed under CC BY 2.0.