英文原文

You're Elin Nordegren. You're hurting and humiliated. And in two weeks you've watched your home life go from a car crash to a train wreck.

Maybe you'll stay with Tiger Woods. Maybe you'll leave. Amid all the rumor, speculation and nonsense, only you know for certain what you think and feel.

But what are your options? I spoke to three experts on money and divorce to get the skinny.

A.J. Barranco, a partner at Barranco & Kircher in Miami, is an experienced Florida matrimonial lawyer and represented Hulk Hogan's wife in their recent divorce. Michelle Smith and Mark Hill are both Certified Financial Divorce Analysts with more than 20 years' experience advising high-net-worth individuals. Ms. Smith runs Smith Divorce Financial Strategies in New York; Mr. Hill runs Pacific Wealth Management and Pacific Divorce Management in San Diego.

What advice would they give to Ms. Nordegren? Here's the rundown:

• Don't give in to anger or rush your decision. 'My first recommendation would be: Take your time, go slow, don't do anything precipitously,' says A.J. Barranco. 'Try to save your marriage if you can, and if you can't, explore your options.' Mark Hill agrees. 'Don't listen to your girlfriends and go out and get the most aggressive lawyer in your jurisdiction,' he says. He's seen it too many times. Most people are hurt, angry or scared, he says. 'They hire an aggressive attorney because they feel that will protect their rights more. But that tends to push their spouse to hire an even more aggressive attorney.'

Once couples get on the 'divorce escalator,' Mr. Hill says, it's hard to get off. And the divorce fight often ends up damaging the relationship far more than the breakdown of the marriage. That's a special concern here because the couple have two young children.

• Get this out of the public eye as fast as you can, and keep it there. 'You want to prevent this from becoming any more public than it's become already,' says Mr. Barranco. This is turning into a public-relations fiasco, and that's bad news for everyone involved. And by damaging Tiger Woods's reputation, it may be damaging all of their financial interests. Your willingness to take this private and play ball is probably your strongest financial card-and can give you a lot of leverage. Tiger Woods does not want to suffer any more damage in public.

• Be aware that even if you take it to court, trying to overturn your prenuptial agreement is going to be an incredibly tough challenge, no matter what your husband is done. Generally speaking, you have to prove you signed it under duress, or that you were a victim of fraud or incomplete disclosure. Philandering doesn't count. 'Disclosure is about financial disclosure,' rather than anything to do with behavior or proclivities, says Michelle Smith. 'Prenups are usually unwound because there hasn't been full financial disclosure.' Duress 'is a little harder to prove,' she adds. But if Tiger pressured you to sign an agreement after the wedding invitations went out, say, or while you were picking out china patterns, you may have a case.

• Even if you do decide to divorce your husband, 'choose how you are going to divorce first,' says Mark Hill. 'Realize that you have that decision to make first.' That means looking at nonconfrontational options, such as mediation, before you even think about going to war. One nonconfrontational option: so-called 'collaborative divorce,' in which the two parties hire lawyers, personal counselors and a neutral financial expert such as a CPA to help them sort through all the issues-but sign an agreement at the outset not to go to court. It's not cheap, says Mr. Hill, but most times it's cheaper than a messy legal fight.

• Be aware that the prenup won't have any affect on what support Tiger will have to pay to support the children. The courts will determine that based on his assets and earnings and the lifestyle the children enjoy at the moment, says A.J. Barranco.

• Decide how much you really need to live on before you start negotiating. As a rule of thumb, your investments ought to earn-at the least-4% over inflation over the long haul. So you'll really need a lump sum of around 20 to 25 times your income if you want it to last a lifetime. In other words, if you want an annual income of $1 million a year, you'd probably need a settlement of $20 million, if not more.

But if you do get divorced, be aware you are going to have to downsize your lifestyle from your days as Mrs. Tiger Woods. 'She won't be able to continue life as she has known it,' says Michelle Smith. 'This may be the biggest paycheck of her life.'

中文译文

设想你就是艾琳•诺德格伦(Elin Nordegren)。你很伤心，又觉得很没脸面。两个星期，你眼见着自己的家庭生活从撞车事故变成了火车脱轨。

或许你还要和老虎伍兹(Tiger Woods)一起生活，或许你会离他而去。在各种流言、猜测和无稽之谈中，只有你了解自己的真实想法和感受。

老虎伍兹与妻子艾琳•诺德格伦但你可以做出哪些选择呢？为刨根究底，我请教了三位理财与离婚专家。

迈阿密律所Barranco & Kircher公司合伙人巴兰科(A.J. Barranco) 是佛罗里达州一位经验丰富的婚姻律师，曾在职业摔跤手霍根(Hulk Hogan)最近的离婚案中代理女方。史密斯(Michelle Smith)和希尔(Mark Hill)都是注册离婚财务分析师(CDFA)，拥有20多年为富豪提供咨询的经历。史密斯女士在纽约经营着史密斯离婚财务策略公司(Smith Divorce Financial Strategies)，希尔先生在圣迭戈掌管着太平洋财富管理公司(Pacific Wealth Management)和太平洋离婚管理公司(Pacific Divorce Management)。

他们会给诺德格伦给出哪些建议呢？请看：

──不要被愤怒控制，也不要急于做决定。巴兰科说，我的第一条建议是，慢慢来，别着急，不要采取任何仓促行动。希尔也这么认为，他说，要尽你所能拯救婚姻，实在不行，研究一下各种可能性。他说，不要听信女友的建议去找辖区内最激进的律师。希尔说，他见过很多人都是这样做，毕竟多数人都感觉受伤、愤怒或害怕。他说，她们请了激进的律师，因为她们觉得这样会更多地保护自己的权益，但这往往会刺激配偶聘请一位更加激进的律师。

希尔说，夫妻一旦上了“离婚扶梯”，再下来就难了。离婚大战对两人关系的损害常常比婚姻破裂本身要高得多。对诺德格伦来说，这方面尤其要注意，因为他们夫妇养育有两个未成年小孩。

──尽快让事件淡出公众视线，并保持在私人范围内。巴兰科说，这件事已经成了公共事件，你不要让它进一步扩大化。它正在演变成一桩公关丑闻，这对任何相关人士都不是好事。损害了伍兹的名声，可能也会损害两个人的所有财务利益。如果你愿意让事件保持在私人范围内并采取合作态度，或许是在财务上能够打的最大一张牌，可以带来很大的帮助。老虎伍兹不希望自己的公共形象受到任何进一步的损伤。

──即使诉至公堂，也要注意，要推翻婚前协议也是出乎想象的困难，不管你丈夫做了什么。一般来讲，你需要证明你是在受到胁迫的情况下签署协议的，或者你遭遇了欺骗和隐瞒，跟别的女人调情不算在内。史密斯说，信息披露是在财务方面，而跟生活行为和癖好无关。她说，婚前协议被判无效，通常是在财务信息没有完全披露的情况下，而对胁迫的证明要困难一些。但如果是伍兹在婚礼请帖发出去后、或当你在挑选结婚用品时逼迫你签订协议，你可能还有胜算。

──如果你决定与丈夫离婚，首先要选择好离婚方式。希尔说，要意识到第一步是要做这方面的决定。也就是说，在想是不是让矛盾升级之前，要看看一些非对抗的可能性，比如通过调解达成协议。有一种可能是“协议离婚”，亦即双方聘请律师、私人顾问和像注册公共会计师(CPA)这样的中立财务专家，来帮助你们解决各种问题──但一开始就要签署一项不上法庭的协议。这样做花费不菲，但多数情况下比冗长的法律途径花钱更少。

──要注意，伍兹要为孩子支付多少抚养费的问题，是不受婚前协议约束的。巴兰科说，法庭将根据伍兹的资产、收入和孩子当前的生活方式来决定。

──开始谈判之前，想好你真的需要多少生活费。从经验来看，投资的长期回报率至少应该会高于通胀率4个百分点，所以如果你希望得到足以维持一生的钱，你实际需要的总额大约是你收入的20到25倍。也就是说，如果你想年入100万美元，那么你至少需要拿到2000万美元。

但如果确实离婚了，你要注意自己的生活方式将不可与当伍兹夫人时同日而语。史密斯说，伍兹夫人也知道，她无法继续过同样的生活，离婚拿到的钱可能会是她这辈子最大的一笔收入。