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Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world, is getting ready to go to war ahead of his divorce with longtime wife Melinda Gates.
On Monday, Bill and Melinda Gates released a statement revealing their 27-year marriage was coming to an end.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 3, 2021
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Melinda is the one who filed for divorce and there was no prenup signed before the marriage.
Via TMZ
TMZ has just obtained the divorce documents. Melinda filed, citing that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The doc asks the judge to rule the marriage ended “as of the date in the separation contract.” That contract is not included in the divorce filing, but they apparently separated at some point earlier and signed a document to that effect.
The divorce docs makes it clear there is NO PRENUP. That’s because according to the filing, the only written agreement that they say pertains to the divorce is the separation agreement.
To protect his $146 billion fortune, Bill has hired a super team of lawyers that includes Warren Buffet’s longtime consultant Ronald Olson.
Via Bloomberg Law
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Inc., is being advised by Munger Tolles partners Ronald Olson, Robert Denham, and Eric Tuttle in Los Angeles.
Olson, a name partner at the firm and longtime adviser and confidant of billionaire Warren Buffett, didn’t respond to a request for comment about how his law firm came to land a role on a divorce that will divide an estimated $146 billion fortune.
A copy of divorce papers filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle and obtained by celebrity news website TMZ shows that Olson and Munger Tolles are co-counsel to Bill Gates along with Stoel Rives trusts and estates partner Wendy Goffe in Seattle and Ted Billbe, a Bellevue, Wash.-based divorce lawyer.
Melinda has also hired an impressive team of lawyers herself before the case heads to trial.
Paul Weiss senior trial lawyer Bruce Birenboim and Loretta Ippolito, co-chair of the firm’s personal representation practice in New York, are representing Melinda Gates, along with partners Robert Cohen and Shannon Rogers Simpson of New York’s Cohen Clair Lans Greifer Thorpe & Rottenstreich.
Cohen is a prominent U.S. divorce lawyer with an all-star client list that over the years has included billionaire Henry Kravis. Cohen clients also have included Chris Rock, Christie Brinkley, and Tommy Mottola, as well as Ivana Trump and Marla Maples in their respective splits from former President Donald Trump..
Rounding out the legal team for Melinda Gates is Sherri Anderson, another Bellevue, Wash.-based divorce lawyer who also represented Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos in his 2019 split with ex-wife MacKenzie Scott.
There’s a good chance Bill and Melinda settle before the divorce heads to court but we’ll have to wait and see if Melinda is going to get a bigger settlement than the $38 billion Mackenzie Scott got a few years ago when she divorced Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.