The divorce papers in the epic Sandra Bullock Jesse James cheating scandal have been unearthed by TMZ. Bullock has filed for divorce from Jesse, as she’s set to announce in the very surprising new issue of People featuring her posing with her adorable secret son that she’s in the process of adopting. It all went down last week in Texas, Bullock’s home state, under the initials B.A.S (Sandra’s initials backwards) and J.J.G (James’ initials mixed – he’s Jesse Gregory James.) While the paperwork isn’t that interesting and is mostly legalese, it does contain some details that may be revealing.

On whether there’s a prenup
There are no details in the paperwork about the alleged prenup that the National Enquirer claims exists (and which provides nothing to Jesse in the event of infidelity). The divorce decree just says that they believe this will be settled. On the “division of property” section, it says “Petitioner [B.A.S/Sandra Bullock] believes that Petitioner and Respondent will enter into an agreement for the division of their estate. Petitioner will request the court to approve the agreement and to make order consistent with the agreement.” They also reference “separate property that is not part of the community estate.” I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the prenup story is true.

Grounds for divorce
Under the grounds, it states “The marriage between Petitioner and Respondent has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marriage relationship and prevents any reasonable expectations of reconciliation.”

Children
Sandra is a step mother to Jesse’s three children from two other relationships, but she has no legal rights. The divorce decree states that “There is no child under eighteen years of age or otherwise entitled to support who was born or adopted of this marriage and none is expected.” That means that Sandra is indeed adopting baby Louis without James.

Infidelity counts in a divorce in Texas more than in California
I’m no legal expert and don’t know if I’m understanding this correctly, but from what I understand, California is a “no fault” divorce state in that it doesn’t really matter if one of the parties significantly wronged the other one, i.e. cheated. It won’t make a difference in the property settlement and it doesn’t matter if one person wants a divorce and the other one doesn’t. In Texas, however, you can state that one of the other parties is at fault and use it as grounds for divorce. Sandra didn’t use Jesse’s cheating as the grounds for filing, but since it matters more in Texas that may explain why she chose to file there instead of in California. Please comment and correct me if you have a better understanding of this. Here’s an explanation from Divorcenet:

Texas law allows for “no-fault” divorces. However, if one party is at “fault” for the breakup of the marriage, the court may take that into consideration in determining what is an “equitable” division of the property. For that reason, the other spouse may want to plead fault grounds in their petition. The statutory grounds for divorce are: Adultery, Cruel treatment (that renders further living together insupportable), Abandonment (for at least one year with the intent to abandon), Long-term incarceration (more than one year), Confinement to a mental hospital for at least 3 years, Living apart for at least 3 years, or Insupportability (which is the no-fault ground), defined as discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marriage and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation.

[From Divorcenet]

Looking at the grounds for divorce, it doesn’t sound like Sandra is stating that Jesse is at fault as it comes across as mutual. Will it still count, then, that he cheated on her, and does this figure into the property settlement? I guess I’m just trying to figure out why she filed in Texas, and this might explain it. Again, let me know if you have more information about it.

Sandra filed relatively quickly considering everything she went through. A friend who works in the public relations industry told me earlier today that her People cover with her new baby was a truly genius PR move, and one that really shows how it’s done. She’s been able to distract from the fact that she filed for divorce, and show how happy and thriving she is, with this great news. We didn’t hear anything about Sandra’s pending adoption and it comes as a huge surprise. I’m so interested in reading her interview and this People issue is going to fly off the shelves.