TomKat Divorce Update: Possible Reasons For The Split

It’s the question on everyone’s lips right now. Why is Katie Holmes divorcing Tom Cruise? Though the actress and mother to the couple’s only child, Suri, has maintained her privacy (for now) regarding her reasons for divorce (even from Tom), from what little we know, we can make a few guesses.

Sources connected to the couple say that Scientology played a major role in Katie’s decision. According to TMZ, “Katie has never been fully committed to Scientology, even though she has had ties with the church,” and that “the couple had been arguing over Suri — that she’s now of the age where Scientology becomes a significant part of her life,” with Katie fearing that Tom would drag her too deeply into the church.

CBS News speculated other reasons as to why what was once considered one of Hollywood’s strongest marriages could fall apart so easily. Addressing whether or not suggestions that Katie Holmes is trying to wiggle out from under Cruise’s shadow, celebrity divorce attorney Raoul Felder said, “Well sure, but everybody who’s watching this thing has to believe that this has been dead for quite some time. This is an internment, it’s not a death, these people, this marriage has died some time back.”

It was then suggested that perhaps Katie Holmes has been sticking it out for the money – reports are saying that Katie could walk away with a cool $3 million for each year she was married to Cruise. Though Felder admitted that it was possible, he said that “the real question” is “why did she pick New York to sue for divorce?” continuing, “the only sensible reason, I think, is we have a very strong privacy law.”

Money is actually very rarely brought up in this case, because the evidence just isn’t all there (thus far) to suggest that Holmes is only in it to walk away with a million-dollar nest-egg. The New York divorce filing is something that TMZ picked up on as well – though it definitely creates some tax problems for Cruise, again, it has less to do with money…

…and more to do with custody.

In short, Cruise hates NYC because taxes are so high, and he has made calculated moves to avoid creating a paper trail showing any residency there. He had an apartment in the city, but transferred the deed into his wife’s name so that he could avoid the residency taxes. So since August, Katie Holmes has been establishing residency In New York – specifically for the purposes of divorce. Why New York? Because New York Courts are more likely to grant Holmes sole custody than California courts.

She wants out of Tom’s life. Forever.

The more that comes out about this divorce, the more it sounds like Not Without My Daughter, a pretty good 1991 Sally Field movie about an American woman who patiently calculates her escape from her abusive husband in Iran, though she has to make sure both she and her daughter can be free of him forever.

Your turn. Why do you think Katie Holmes wants a divorce and sole custody of Suri?