After 19 years of marriage, country singer Randy Travis and his manager/wife Elizabeth “Lib” Travis have finalized their divorce. The spokesperson confirmed the divorce on Friday.

The couple filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in Santa Fe, NM, citing “state of incompatibility” between the two of them.

In a prepared statement, their spokesperson said, “Elizabeth and Randy Travis have agreed to part ways. Elizabeth will remain Mr. Travis’ personal manager. They do not intend to comment any further and ask for your respect for their privacy during this time.”

Randy began living with Lib (and her then-husband) when he was 17 in the late 1970s.  He sang at a North Carolina nightclub she managed but was in trouble with the law. Facing a five-year prison sentence for breaking into a convenience store, Randy got lucky when Lib convinced the judge to grant him probation and release him into her custody (she is 16 years his senior).

They ultimately moved to Nashville together, where she managed another nightclub featuring Randy (among other musicians). She endeavored to get a record deal for Randy and began managing him full-time after he signed with a record label in the mid-1980s.

The couple married in secret in 1991 after having been inseparable for over a decade. They have no children.

Randy and Lib moved to New Mexico full-time about ten years ago. New Mexico is a community property state, meaning that all marital property should have been divided equally between husband and wife – unless there was a prenuptial agreement or a post-nuptial agreement.  Either is possible in this case. The marriage occurred after Randy found fame – but it seems unlikely that his income would be set aside as his separate property under a prenuptial agreement because of Lib’s instrumental involvement in his success.

Some have speculated for years that the Travis marriage was some sort of sham for various reasons. If it was, in fact, some less-than-traditional arrangement, it would not be surprising to learn that there was a post-nuptial agreement of some sort which dictated how the assets were to be divided.

In any event, it appears that the distribution of property was agreed-upon and the personal split has concluded.

Library Topics: divorce, community property state, marital property, prenuptial agreement, post-nuptial agreement, separate property, distribution of property