Settlement highlights Cruise-Holmes privacy wishes

Courts in both states can handle child custody disputes through sealed proceedings, and detailed arrangements are rarely filed publicly in the celebrity divorce hotbed of Los Angeles. In New York, family law cases are sealed unless there is a court order making them public although proceedings are public.

Disputes do arise, such as the battle between model Christie Brinkley and her former husband of a decade, Peter Cook. The pair engaged in a court trial over custody and property on New York's Long Island in 2008, reaching a settlement after days of testimony about Cook's affair with an 18-year-old girl. The pair has repeatedly returned to court after new disputes have emerged.

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None of Cruise's divorces to date have been public spectacles and other top stars have managed to keep their parenting disputes largely out of open courtrooms. After the leak of a recording in which Alec Baldwin berated his daughter, most custody aspects involving his daughter with Kim Basinger have been handled through sealed proceedings.

The same occurred when Charlie Sheen and ex-wife Brooke Mueller sparred over custody in 2011 in the wake of the actor's public meltdown and questions about her sobriety. Allegations of physical abuse and threats by Sheen were contained in a restraining order application, but details of the couple's custody arrangements remain private.

"I don't think either of these high-profile celebrities want their dirty laundry aired in technically a public forum," said Russell I. Marnell, an East Meadow, N.Y.-based divorce lawyer who's also licensed in California. "Those kind of factors certainly would lend themselves to try to encourage a resolution."

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Mindel agreed, but said, "The question's going to be —did they have enough time to flesh out how they're going to resolve future disputes?"

For now the focus of both stars appears to be to get their breakup out of the news. Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe cast doubts Monday evening on stories speculating about what the couple traded to get such a quick resolution.

"There are numerous inaccuracies in the reports regarding the purported contents of the agreement reached between the parties," Wolfe wrote, adding that "its terms will not be disclosed."

Kelly said although it will become clear how the custody agreement is structured based on where Suri is seen spending her time, the public will probably never know its specifics or how it came together.