Donald Trump Jr.'s wife Vanessa filed for divorce soon after getting a windfall inheritance - and it could change the terms of their split
- Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump's eldest son, will soon find out how much his estranged wife, Vanessa Haydon Trump, is worth.
- Vanessa filed for divorce in a Manhattan court in March not long after her family reportedly received a windfall inheritance from her late father's stocks and other investments.
- Don Jr.'s lawyers requested that Vanessa provide a "statement of net worth," which would detail her income, assets, and liabilities.
Donald Trump Jr. will soon find out how much his estranged wife, Vanessa Haydon Trump, is worth.
Vanessa filed for divorce in a Manhattan court in March not long after her family reportedly received a windfall inheritance from her late father's stocks and other investments. And on Monday, Don Jr.'s lawyers requested that Vanessa provide a "statement of net worth," which would detail her income, assets, liabilities, and the like, The New York Daily News reported.
The move is standard in divorce negotiations, lawyers say. The statements, usually provided by both sides, help determine how child support payments and other issues will be resolved.
"You need to know what you're talking about," Jacqueline Newman, a New York matrimonial lawyer who is not involved in the case, told Business Insider, adding that nearly all divorces involve statements of net worth. "It'll give everyone a good idea of what the assets are and what they'll be fighting about."
Newman said that anything Vanessa has inherited will be protected in the divorce, but if they generate income for her that could affect how the couple splits child support responsibilities.
While the divorce was listed as uncontested, meaning that Vanessa believes the couple can negotiate the terms of the split outside of court, one source close to the family told Page Six that the couple is at odds over how to divide custody of their five children, and in negotiations over their prenuptial agreement, which sources say is similar to President Donald Trump's.
"President Trump wrote the definitive text on pre-nup agreements," Raoul Felder, a famed New York matrimonial lawyer who represented former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in his divorce and who has known the Trump family for a few decades, told Business Insider.
Felder added that the complexity of the divorce negotiations will depend on how well the pre-nup agreement was written.
Charles Haydon, Vanessa's father, was a powerful New York lawyer, representing celebrities including Marilyn Monroe and real estate mogul Abe Hirschfeld, and passed away in February 2005, a few months before Vanessa and Don Jr. were married.
Page Six reported that Vanessa's recent inheritance "emboldened" her to move forward with the divorce.
"I can't speculate as to how much they received, but it was life-changing," a source told Page Six.
Last September, Vanessa's mother, Bonnie, bought a $6.4 million penthouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan previously owned by former Fox News chief Roger Ailes' widow, Elizabeth Ailes, The New York Times reported.
The attorney representing Vanessa in the divorce, David Feureisen, is also listed in Bonnie's purchase of the penthouse and Page Six reported that he is a family friend of the Haydon's.
Feureisen did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
The reasons for the divorce remain unclear, but Us Weekly and Page Six reported that Don Jr. had an affair with singer and former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Aubrey O'Day in 2011. The two reportedly dated for a few months until Trump ended the romance after Vanessa, who was pregnant with the couple's fourth child, found out about it.
On election night in 2016, O'Day tweeted, "my story I didn't tell is worth millions now," adding that she was "heartbroken" by the outcome of the election.
"There have been numerous affairs," one source told Page Six. "This divorce has been in the works for a long time."