When it comes to relationships, movies stars are just like everyone else.

Actors Chris Pratt and Anna Faris announced late Sunday that they are legally separating. In a statement on social media, Pratt wrote, “We tried hard for a long time, and we’re really disappointed. Our son has two parents who love him very much and for his sake we want to keep this situation as private as possible moving forward. We still have love for each other, will always cherish our time together and continue to have the deepest respect for one another.”

Earlier this year, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, who announced their split in 2015 just after their 10th wedding anniversary, said they would divorce. “After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce,” they said in a statement two years ago when they originally announced their divorce. Holding off on filing for divorce, if both these couples could have resolved their differences, might have been the smartest financial decision of their lives, experts say.

Divorce can be costly when there are millions of dollars at stake, but it can be just as costly for ordinary Americans. While divorce is often an emotionally charged decision, with papers filed in anger or after years of frustration, the biggest implications are often financial, says Randy Kessler, an Atlanta-based lawyer. If one partner is a freelancer and relies on his/her spouse’s health insurance, for example, separation may be a better option.

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After meeting with your financial planner, lawyer and psychologist, some couples decide against divorce. Sometimes, their children keep them together and they live in the same home, but lead different lives because they can’t afford to separate, or they want their children to have two parents at home. “We see reconciliation more often when there’s passion, even anger,” he says. “It’s when people truly don’t care anymore and are emotionless that reconciliation seems the least possible.”

It does make sense for Garner and Affleck to wait 10 years after they married before filing for divorce and for Pratt and Faris to legally separate and, possibly, divorce before they hit the 10-year mark. At least, if one spouse had more need for money later in life. (The lives of movies stars, while vulnerable to the same turbulence as everyone else, are often times shielded from the financial worries of many nine-to-five workers.)

Upon retirement, a person can claim spousal social security benefits based on the earnings of an ex-spouse, provided that the couple was married for at least 10 years and the claimant remains unmarried, among other conditions. If one partner is expecting a massive payday or bonus from a business venture (or even royalties from a forthcoming blockbuster), the other spouse may want to wait until after that income has been earned to divorce.

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Divorces can also be public: That could mean shining a light on the couple’s income taxes or even embarrassing spending habits. The public scrutiny can be too much for some. Many wealthy clients will settle out of court because they don’t even want to be inconvenienced, Kessler says. Those that go to court, often times end up regretting it. Nearly 15 years ago, the former General Electric GE, +2.88% head Jack Welch and his second wife Jane Welch, had a very public rift.

When the couple filed for divorce in Connecticut, his General Electric retirement agreement became part of the public record and was splashed across national newspapers. He ended up giving back part of his retirement package. “In this environment, I don’t want a great company with the highest integrity dragged into a public fight because of my divorce proceedings,” he wrote in a column for The Wall Street Journal at the time.

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Divorce can be one of the most financially devastating life events and no one should make such a big financial decision when they are feeling tired and emotional, especially if the couple is forced to sell the family home, says John Slowiaczek, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Getting divorced, sharing custody of children and selling homes are up there with getting married and buying a home in terms of most stressful things you can do.

Virtually every divorce turns into a fight over money or the kids, no matter how amicable the split seems, says Fran Walfish, a Beverly Hills psychotherapist. “Disgruntled exes often turn their disappointment and disillusionment into ‘The War of the Roses’,” she says. “Everyone loses and the children pay the highest price in the battle.” Last year, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had a very public and — even by Hollywood standards — bitter split.

That does not appear to be the case with Chris Pratt and Anna Faris, who are taking the unified and dignified route of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. The public has not heard one peep about financial feuds or custody disputes from either couples, Walfish says. By waiting to file and making sure that they exhausted all possible options as Pratt’s statement suggested, she says, the couple knows that everything that could be done was done to save the marriage.