One of the biggest news out of Hollywood is the end of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's decade-long marriage. The announcement was made last week, a day after they celebrated their 10th year anniversary.
"After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce," said the couple through a joint statement via People. "We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time. This will be our only comment on this private, family matter. Thank you for understanding."
Aside from announcing their split, the "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" star will continue to live in the same property in order to co-parent their three children together.
The Hollywood Gossip reported that, "Sources say Affleck has been living in hotels for the past several months, but now that their divorce on the verge of being settled, relations between the actor and his soon-to-be-ex-wife have improved to the point that she's allowing him to stay in their guest house."
Affleck, 42, and Garner, 43, are the newest celebrity couple to decide to co-parent and spend time as a family even after a split. ABC News notes that they follow in the footsteps of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow as well as Mike Comrie and Hilary Duff.
According to New York City psychiatrist Dr. Janet Taylor, "The benefits of living in the same house if you are separated are that you have familiarity. And certainly for your children, they hopefully will have the opportunity of seeing you work something out even when it's difficult."
However, there is research that points to the situation having negative effects. Per a 2002 study published in the Urban Institute, "children living with cohabitors are more likely to be poor, food insecure, read too infrequently, and exhibit more behavioral problems than those living with married couples."
While there are benefits like financial savings and better logistics for co-parenting, DivorceInfo notes that there are ways the set-up could go wrong. It could give children a false sense of hope, delayed grief for yourself and children and also complicated financial arrangements.
What's important is that couples really consider the pros and cons of the situation before deciding to try it. Ask yourself a series of questions and create boundaries as well as rules on how you plan to do it so everything is out in the open and clear.
In the case of Affleck and Garner, they will continue to live together within the same 8,800-sq. -ft estate in Los Angeles in order to co-parent their three kids Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3, more effectively.
Their home in Los Angeles -- which they bought in 2009 -- comes with a price tag of $17.5 million.
