Bill and Melinda Gates' separation agreement likely took at least a year to figure out ahead of the divorce, an expert said
- Bill and Melinda Gates don't have a prenup, so they divided assets based on a separation agreement.
- A separation agreement is a private document in a divorce filing that splits up property.
- That agreement has likely been in the works for at least a year, a lawyer said.
Bill and Melinda Gates filed for divorce in Washington state on May 3 and asked the court to follow a separation agreement to split up their property.
The billionaire couple, who have been married for 27 years, reportedly didn't have a prenuptial agreement, better known as a "prenup."
A prenup would've been agreed to before the two were married, and would have specified how property would be split up in the case of a legal separation or divorce.
Terry Price, a family law professor at the University of Washington School of Law said, it was surprising the two didn't have a prenup because Bill Gates was already extraordinarily wealthy when they married. When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott filed for divorce in 2019, they also didn't have a prenup, but that was not a surprise, Price said.
"Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos had nothing when he started Amazon. They were already married," he said. But, "Bill Gates already had Microsoft for years. Why don't they have a prenup? Unclear."
Without a prenup, the couple had to create a separation agreement to divide their considerable assets.
"A prenup is a prenuptial agreement before you get married. The separation agreement or separation contract is part of a divorce because a divorce requires that you separate the property," Price said.
In the petition for divorce, the couple asked for their real property, personal property, and debts to be split according to their separation contract, which is a private document.
"We ask the court to dissolve our marriage and find that our marital community ended on the date stated in our separation contract," the filing read.
In high-profile cases, separation contracts can take a year to figure out, Price said.
"They have a team of people who have been working on this," he said of the Gates' separation contract. "Not that I know from personal knowledge, but this has got to have been in the works for at least a year," Price said.
Th lawyers must identify everything in the couple's estate, from famous art work, to jewelry, to land, and houses. With a $146 billion fortune, that could take a while, Price said.
"That's spreadsheets upon spreadsheets upon spreadsheets," Price said
After identifying everything, lawyers then have to classify the property as earned during the marriage jointly, or before the marriage separately, according to Washington law. Then, they figure out what that property is worth, before divvying everything up.
Melinda filed the divorce as the petitioner. Bill, as the respondent, can either file a response, noting what he disagrees with, or he can sign on, saying he agrees with everything, Price said.
"And that's what he did. He signed on, which makes me think it's going to be quite amicable," Price said.
In the state of Washington, after filing for a dissolution of marriage, couples can officially be divorced after 90 days, if all the details have been figured out by then, Price said.
That means the soonest Bill and Melinda could be officially be divorced is August 3, which he said is likely going to be the case because, "You just say, 'We did the separation agreement, and that's it. Thank you.'"
"I would be surprised if they weren't divorced before the end of the summer," he said.