This week on Legally Us, Rachael Bennett, a certified family law specialist and senior attorney at Sullivan Law & Associates, breaks down Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo’s divorce settlement.
According to court documents obtained by Us on July 20, Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo have officially finalized their divorce. The former couple entered into a marital dissolution agreement on July 17, with the court awarding the 41-year-old country singer an absolute divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.
Us Weekly confirmed last month that Jelly Roll filed for divorce in Tennessee on May 18, one month before the news became public. Despite ending their marriage, both Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo, 46, have consistently maintained that their split was amicable.
“I would say this is highly unusual,” Bennett tells Us. “Tennessee has a 60-day cooling-off period, where the earliest the court can enter a divorce decree is just two months after the divorce petition is filed, and these two were divorced within almost exactly two months of that date. What this tells me is that they were likely working out the details of this divorce, way before the divorce case was ever filed. It’s just highly unlikely to me that they ironed out 100% of these huge financial decisions within the span of just 60 days.”
The former couple reached a confidential property settlement before signing the agreement, deciding to divide their furniture, personal belongings, vehicles, aircraft and intellectual property rights, though the specific terms remain private. As part of the settlement, Jelly Roll will pay Bunnie Xo a lump-sum equitable property division, although the amount was not disclosed, and both parties waived their rights to alimony.
“I would guess that they both lawyered up months before that initial filing was made,” Bennett tells Us. “A buyout of spousal support, and then they rolled that buyout amount into a lump sum settlement payment, but just labeled it as property division settlement, just to keep the whole thing private. However, a lump sum spousal support buyout does tend to be a gamble for both sides. For Bunnie, she risks accepting less than what she may have gotten if she took Jelly Roll to court and had a judge decide on spousal support.”
On June 15, Us confirmed that the musician filed to end his marriage one month prior, submitting a divorce petition in Tennessee on May 18. The pair have vowed to remain cordial and assured fans that the split was amicable.
During the June 18 episode of her “Dumb Blonde” podcast, which she later took down, Bunnie Xo broke her silence on the split and confirmed that Jelly Roll was back on the market.
“Daddy Roll is probably in his finest season. He looks so good. He is healthier than he’s ever been,” the podcast host said before making it clear she didn’t mind one bit if he moved on romantically. “He’s even started dating, which is great. I love that.”
That same day, Jelly Roll revealed during his concert that he supported everything his now ex-wife said in her podcast episode saying that “nobody cheated on nobody.”
“Bunnie, I love you baby. Thank you for those 10 years. They were incredible,” he said at the concert. “Thank you for the next 10 years of friendship and 20 beyond that.”
