Which spouse gets to stay in the marital home is often one of the most contentious issues in a divorce. For the 99%, this is usually because the marital home is the most valuable asset that the couple owns, and if they have minor children, then the parenting plan often plays an important role in the court’s decision about possession of the marital residence. Of course, the wealthiest people have more resources to sink into epic divorce battles, so even if they own multiple residences, they can afford to antagonize each other about who gets to keep the mansion in Miami.
Lisa Hochstein and Dr. Lenny Hochstein
Lenny Hochstein is a plastic surgeon in Miami, and his estranged wife Lisa is a cast member on the Real Housewives of Miami. The house where they lived together has belonged to Lenny since before he married Lisa. When they married, they signed a prenuptial agreement, stipulating that if either party filed for divorce, Lisa would vacate the marital residence within 30 days. They filed for divorce in May 2022, and throughout the summer, Lisa has been refusing to leave the marital home, even though Lenny offered her $3.5 million to buy or rent another house. The dispute over the marital home is not the only ugly thing about the Hochsteins’ divorce case. A court in South Florida also issued a restraining order against Lisa, ordering her to stay away from Lenny’s girlfriend Katharina Mazepa after Lisa had allegedly been harassing her by phone and on Instagram.
Phil Collins and Orianne Cevey
Musician Phil Collins first met translator Orianne Cevey while he was on tour in Switzerland, and the couple married in 1999. Collins is 21 years older than Cevey and was twice divorced when they met; he has two children from his first marriage and one daughter from his second marriage. Collins and Cevey have two sons together, Nicholas and Matthew. When Collins and Cevey divorced in 2006, he paid her a divorce settlement of 25 million British pounds, one of the biggest divorce settlements in British history up to that time. After the divorce, Collins remained in Switzerland while Cevey moved to Miami with the boys.
In early 2016, Collins moved to Miami to be closer to his family, and he and Cevey reunited as a couple. They bought a house together in Miami but never legally remarried. When they separated in 2020, a bitter fight ensued over the couple’s Miami mansion. Cevey allegedly began dating Thomas Bates while she and Collins were still living together in Miami. In August, Cevey traveled to Las Vegas and notified Collins by text that their relationship was over. When she returned from Las Vegas, it turned out that she had married Bates during the trip, and they were now living in the Miami house where she and Collins had lived together. In October 2020, Collins filed an eviction notice, but Cevey refused to leave. Eventually, Cevey and Bates vacated the house, and Collins sold it for $39 million in 2021.