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Pop megastar Madonna and her British husband Guy Ritchie are to be divorced in London Friday, according to a court listing, as reports said they had struck a deal giving him little of her vast fortune.
The case was listed as a "quickie" divorce under the names Ciccone M L v Ritchie G S, to be heard before a judge in the High Court's Family Division in central London.
The decree nisi will be announced at 10:00 am (1000 GMT), according to the listing. Under British law the couple do not have to personally attend the proceedings, which will last only a few minutes.
Madonna, 50, and film director Ritchie, 40, announced in mid-October that they are to divorce nearly eight years after they married in a lavish ceremony at a Scottish castle in December 2000.
The couple have an eight-year-old son, Rocco, and a three-year-old son adopted in Malawi, David Banda. Madonna also has a daughter, 12-year-old Lourdes, by her former fitness trainer Carlos Leon.
There was no immediate comment from Madonna's spokeswoman.
The confirmation came after press reports suggested the couple -- whose marriage had reportedly been under strain for some time -- have agreed a deal under which Ritchie will receive very little money.
According to the Times newspaper, the singer will "keep the bulk" of her 300 million pound (440 million dollar, 350 million euro) fortune, after they resolved the main stumbling block over where the children will live.
Their two sons will share their time between homes in Britain and the United States, it reported, adding that Madonna had wanted all her children to live with her in New York.
Ritchie's fortune is estimated at some 30 million pounds, it said, adding that under British divorce laws he could have sought up to 50 percent of Madonna's money.
In Britain, the couple have several properties and a stake in a pub in London, plus their Ashcombe House country estate.
In the United States, they own apartments in New York, plus a palatial mansion in Beverly Hills, California.
By agreeing a "quickie" divorce deal, the couple will avoid a high-profile, big money split like that of Beatles legend Paul McCartney and campaigner Heather Mills earlier this year.
Madonna is widely regarded as the world's highest-earning female singer, with Forbes.com putting her atop its "Cash Queens of Music" with earnings of 72 million dollars between June 2006 and June 2007.
The Sun newspaper, which broke the story of their divorce last month, alleged that Madonna thought he was lazy, tightfisted and preferred the pub to his family, while Ritchie thought she was a domineering control freak obsessed with her Kabbalah faith.
After the couple announced their divorce last month, the father of their adopted Malawian son voiced shock at the decision.
"Madonna loves the child, and I want to encourage her to keep loving the boy despite the divorce," Yohane Banda said from his village of Mchinji, 110 kilometres (70 miles) from the capital Lilongwe.
Madonna -- her full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone -- was previously married to US actor Sean Penn.
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