Anyone who was around in the ‘70s, or even a child in the early ‘80s, has heard of the song “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennille.
A buoyant song that exalted love and all of its trimmings, the anthem no longer applies to its performers, Cathryn Antoinette Tennille and Daryl Dragon, a.k.a. “The Captain.” After 38 years of marriage, Tennille filed for divorce in an Arizona court in January.
Arizona, like California, is a community property state. Community property is generally any property acquired during marriage, except for gifts or inheritances.
According to an Associated Press article, the divorce petition asks for any community property, debts and obligations to be equitably divided.
For many couples like The Captain & Tennille, who would be considered to have had a long-term marriage in California since they were married for more than ten years, an equitable division of their community property may be simpler than a more complex fight over assets, debts and obligations accumulated over the tenure of their marriage.
The good thing is it doesn’t always have to be a split down the middle. For instance, if the parties have one asset that is worth $250,000, such as a home in Phoenix, and they also have a luxury vehicle roughly worth the same amount, one party may take the home and the other party may assume the car, saving either from selling the asset and dividing the resulting proceeds. In order to accomplish the rather daunting task of taking inventory of the couple’s life together, it helps to have family law attorneys who help diffuse what could be an emotionally charged process.
While it is still too early to tell whether the marriage’s dissolution will truly be amicable – you never know how one party decides to respond once served with a petition for divorce – one can hope that, as the couple’s website promises, while love may no longer be keeping The Captain & Tennille together, they will always have their music.
Keeping It in the Family 