Bezos divorce: could he have avoided 50/50 split with a prenup?

[omega3]

So apperently according to NY rule Jeff Bezos (CEO Amazon) would have to split his fortune 50/50 with his wife now that they're gonna divorce. Jus wondering, but could he have avoided that 50/50 split with a prenuptual agreement (prenup) or would NY law still overrule that? Just wondering about that. Bezos has +100 billion so lots at stake here.

 

[brycejones]

So apperently according to NY rule Jeff Bezos (CEO Amazon) would have to split his fortune 50/50 with his wife now that they're gonna divorce. Jus wondering, but could he have avoided that 50/50 split with a prenuptual agreement (prenup) or would NY law still overrule that? Just wondering about that. Bezos has +100 billion so lots at stake here.

The financial arrangements of their divorce are between them. Not sure why you even care about it.

I believe their marriage predates the founding of Amazon so I doubt it was a consideration even then. They've been married for 25 years.

 

[omega3]

My question wasn't even so much about Bezos specific. I just wondered if you marry with a prenup agreement, can that overrule such a 50/50 split if you later on divorce in NY?

 

[K1052]

Prenups aren't magic bullets If you can convince a judge it was unfair, there are definite limitations to their utility. Also infidelity is often dealbreaker for both parties in those agreements rendering it worthless in this case.

IIRC they were married before Amazon was even incorporated and while he came from a well off family they were not considered wealthy by any means. Certainly not anything remotely close to what he is now.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I dislike the idea of prenups and his vs her property in a marriage. I also don’t feel any sympathy for someone that cheats on their spouse when they lose half their stuff either. As was said above they built Amazon together so she’s entitled to it, I don’t think a prenup would have mattered here anyways.

 

[Paratus]

This is basically the equivalent of a 50% tax on Jeff. As we know from the AOC thread on higher taxes for the rich when rich people are taxed this high they can’t afford houses, boats, restaurants or anything, at least according to Hannity.

While there’s things I do and don’t like about Amazon I sure didn’t want to see Jeff homeless. /s

 

[kage69]

Talk about some expensive strange.

Jeff doesn't seem too concerned by it all, but I guess you can be that chill when you make 1.4 million per hour. I almost wouldn't be surprised to find out this was all just so he could get a dick pic out there to shame Trump (who got his mom's mushroom)

 

[Thump553]

This is basically the equivalent of a 50% tax on Jeff. As we know from the AOC thread on higher taxes for the rich when rich people are taxed this high they can’t afford houses, boats, restaurants or anything, at least according to Hannity.

While there’s things I do and don’t like about Amazon I sure didn’t want to see Jeff homeless. /s

This is a totally silly argument. Taxes are paid to a government. This is a division of marital property between spouses. Before the divorce, they both owned the $135 billion jointly. From here on out each with have separate property of $67.5 billion each. They were married 25 years-and were married well before Amazon was formed, and from the tiny bit of it I have read Mrs. Bezos played a significant role in the early part of Amazon.

There was no prenup agreement here so the question is hypothetical. And by all appearances this split and the financial arrangements were completely agreed to by each side without even a trace of litigation.

To answer your question, yes a properly drafted and executed prenup could have altered the property division greatly-but the details of that are best left up to competent legal counsel not slap dash internet advice.

 

[Paratus]

This is a totally silly argument. Taxes are paid to a government. This is a division of marital property between spouses. Before the divorce, they both owned the $135 billion jointly. From here on out each with have separate property of $67.5 billion each. They were married 25 years-and were married well before Amazon was formed, and from the tiny bit of it I have read Mrs. Bezos played a significant role in the early part of Amazon.

There was no prenup agreement here so the question is hypothetical. And by all appearances this split and the financial arrangements were completely agreed to by each side without even a trace of litigation.

To answer your question, yes a properly drafted and executed prenup could have altered the property division greatly-but the details of that are best left up to competent legal counsel not slap dash internet advice.

Totally Silly Argument?!

Did the /s fail to give it away?

 

[Stokely]

Who gives a shit. Half of a bazillion is still a gazillion.

 

[UberNeuman]

His wife used the discount code DIVORCE for 50% off.

 

[MixMasterTang]

IANAL but from my understanding pre-nups only cover assets you bring into the marriage, all assets earned/made during the marriage are considered marital property and can be split 50/50. As someone above mentioned Amazon was started after their marriage she could technically be entitled to half, but my guess is she will settle for something like 1-5 billion.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Someone mentioned this on a different forum and brought up a very valid point.... Divorce seems like a great way to do insider trading. Seems silly - but when Amazon is near all time highs and you are court ordered to split stock (and sell) - that may get around the general scrutiny of a major exec selling their stake.

Also keep in mind - we are at the very top edge of a bull market. This is undoubtedly a good time to sell.

 

[zinfamous]

yeah, lots at stake. poor fucking bastard. He goes from being the wealthiest person in the world...to tying the number one spot as wealthiest person in the world.

Protecting the wealth of a 100-billionaire from a divorce probably sits at number 100,000,000,987,000,8976 of ranked problems in this world that effect real people.

seriously, what the fuck? How could it possibly matter?

tell you what, let his wife take half, then let's tax half of each of their stakes and use it for the federal welfare. Good plan? Yeah, fuck it's an amazing plan. COnsidering that Amazon thrives off of massive government infrastructure to exist, and barely pays the value of taxes on it, from what the benefit (lol, like they actually pay taxes, anyway). Hell, the country was thriving when Bezos folks faced a 80% tax rate, and they were still had more money than generations of their spawn could ever deal with.

So let's go back to doing that.

 

[zinfamous]

Someone mentioned this on a different forum and brought up a very valid point.... Divorce seems like a great way to do insider trading. Seems silly - but when Amazon is near all time highs and you are court ordered to split stock (and sell) - that may get around the general scrutiny of a major exec selling their stake.

Also keep in mind - we are at the very top edge of a bull market. This is undoubtedly a good time to sell.

lol--wasn't this actually done? I know I have read about this fairly recently in some case...or perhaps it was the plot in some movie. Damn, I know it has happened or at least been dramatized.