Inside Jennifer Garner's Life After Ben Affleck

Jennifer Garner's split from Ben Affleck has been anything but textbook. From Garner filing for divorce just one month after Affleck completed rehab for alcohol addiction, to their long separation, to her husband's alleged infidelities, the couple's road to divorce has been an interesting one. 

As they move towards officialdivorce, the exes continue to spend time together, sharing parenting duties of their three young kids, while Garner is keeping busier than ever with everything from new business ventures to helping those in need. Here's what Jennifer Garner's life looks like after Ben Affleck.

Despite making headlines with her decision to file for divorce, Garner has been doing her best to keep all of the legal proceedings under wraps, and her ex has been on board, too. From "coordinating the filing of near-identical documents at the same time" to choosing to represent themselves, the former couple is ensuring their personal business is kept as private as possible. 

As family law specialist Steven Mindel told People, "There is no way that [they] don't have big legal teams behind them [but] they filed this way most likely because they want to portray to the public they are doing this amicably: 'We are getting divorced but we are doing this the right way.'"

Which explains why it took the movie stars nearly two years to officially file for divorce, as both parties worked on a "marital settlement agreement that wouldn't be made public or a co-parenting agreement that again would not be public." Their decision to omit a separation date also "signals they've got a deal and they're not going to put it on the papers," according to Peter M. Walzer, another certified family law specialist who spoke with the outlet.

While the split of one of Hollywood's fave couples was dubbed amicable by some, just four months after she filed for divorce, Garner reportedly decided to pursue a larger chunk of her ex-husband's $105 million estate, according to InTouch.

A source told the magazine that Affleck's supposed infidelity (PEOPLE spoke to several sources alleging that the actor began an affair with his current girlfriend, Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus, back in 2013 when they were both still married) pushed Garner to want "to go after Ben's future earnings." 

As law attorney Goldie Schon explained, legally, she could indeed do that. "If Ben signed a contract to do a movie while they were still married, then, yes, she has a right to a part of the money he's going to get from that movie because it's a community property asset," she explained. Given that the couple didn't sign a prenup, the source added that Affleck "might want to consider giving Jen what she is asking for to avoid an even heftier payoff if this goes to trial."  

After starring in 2016's Miracles from Heaven (in which she played the mom of a 10-year-old girl with a fatal illness who claimed to have visited Heaven after tumbling out of a tree and being totally cured), Garner began embracing her faith more and more. Speaking with The Christian Post in 2016, she revealed that her top hope for the flick was that it "lifts people's hearts in that way, if it asks anyone to re-examine their own faith and their own beliefs, that would be the pie in the sky for me." And it certainly did that for her and her children.

Speaking with DeWayneHamby.com, the actress admitted, "I was talking to my kids about the movie and they said, 'Mom you don't take us to church,' and we went that Sunday, and they went today without me. That decision was a direct gift from this movie and for that I'm very grateful." A lot may have changed in her personal life, but Garner continues to turn to her faith and was even filmed arriving at a service with her children and ex-husband in August 2017.  

Rather than going their separate ways, Garner and Affleck have continued to spend time together, as they figure out how to be the best parents they can be to their three young kids, 11-year-old Violet, 8-year-old Seraphina and 5-year-old Samuel. In August 2017, the whole clan got together to celebrate Affleck's 45th birthday with a nice family dinner. And it looks like the exes don't just hang out when their kiddos are around — they spend one-on-one time, too. In September 2017, the former couple was snapped together, chatting on a sidewalk in Los Angeles after Labor Day weekend.

She may have kept social media at bay for years, but the 45-year-old finally cracked and joined Instagram on September 1, 2017 and did so with a major dose of humor. Her very first post was a Hyperlapse video in which the mom of three showed off her best cheesy mom humor, pointing to a board that read, "Summer is almost over. Don't be sad because sad is DAS backward and DAS not good." 

She then added, "I am officially on Instagram! So, please follow me because isn't that how this works...? Xx, Jen" It's clear her fans were over the moon and they did indeed follow her. In just two weeks, Garner garnered (pun intended!) 259K followers.

She may have taken a step back from acting in recent years, but Garner's former home landed quite the gig in 2017, making its big screen debut in Reese Witherspoon's romantic comedy, Home Again. The house, which once belonged to Garner and Affleck, as well as other A-listers, like Cindy Crawford, is located on North Tigertail Road in Brentwood, California. It was sold by Garner and her ex in 2009 for a cool $6.25 million.

In September 2017, Garner added 'businesswoman' to her resume, joining industry expert John Foraker and founding entrepreneurs Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz in the role of chief brand officer to "announce the expansion of Once Upon a Farm, an organic family food company that currently offers a line of cold-pressed organic baby foods and applesauces."

Speaking about the company (whose mission is to "provide as many children as possible with the best-tasting, most nutritious and highest quality foods, using sustainable method") in a press release, Garner revealed her motivation was a personal one.  "As a mom of three and Save the Children artist ambassador, I am passionate about childhood nutrition and making sure we are leaving a healthier and happier planet for the next generation, she explained. "Once Upon a Farm helps parents keep their promise to deliver the best nourishment for their children's bodies and souls."

Like many celebrities (from Kim Kardashian to Miley Cyrus) who jumped at the chance to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Garner contributed to relief efforts by visiting Hilliard Elementary in her hometown of Houston, Texas and "handing out donations to families with young children in need following the devastation." 

"Today I was inspired by the huge hearts in Texas," she wrote on Instagram, sharing snaps from her visit. "There is a generosity of spirit that gets lost in political rhetoric, but — people come together in a time of crisis. You know what's beautiful? Children look for light. Terrifying things have happened to these kids in the past couple of weeks, but they don't want to dwell on those stories," she added, concluding, "We have to protect our kids and we have to learn from them."

After rising to peak popularity in the early 2000s with smash hit rom-coms, like 2004's 13 Going on 30 and 2009's Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, as well as achieving A-list status with her hit TV series Alias (which ran for five years from 2001 to 2006), Garner seemed to take a step back from the spotlight as she started her family with Affleck. 

Now, the talented actress is getting back into the movie game, starring in 2017's The Tribes of Palos Verdes, which "follows a family as they adjust to life in the affluent L.A. suburb" and is set to premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October. Also in the works as of September 2017 are Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (which is completed and set for a 2018 premiere), Peppermint (currently in pre-production and scheduled to hit theaters in 2018) and Amusement Park, which has begun filming and is coming in 2019.