Bill Gates and Melinda gets have made headlines after they announced in a joint statement that they are ending their years-long marriage. The former couple mentioned that they now believe that they cannot grow further as a couple. However, they both mentioned that they will be working together at the foundation, which they built to help people in leading healthy and productive lives.
Bill Gates is the co-founder of the tech giant, where he owns 1% of the company. He is also the fourth-richest billionaire in the whole world, with an estimated worth of up to $130 billion. The divorce settlement could also be the largest settlement in the history. When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ended the relationship with his former wife, MacKenzie Scott in 2019, Scott received around US$38 billion in the settlement.
People on the internet were curious whether the couple had signed a prenuptial agreement prior to their marriage. The agreement is a popular legal document that most of the couple sign before entering their marriage. This legal agreement helps the to determine the fate of the couple’s assets, if they divorce or one of them dies. TMZ reported that the marriage is now broken and claimed that they had obtained a court documents.
Bill and Melinda Gates never signed a prenup agreement
According to the court document recovered by TMZ, it makes clear that the couple didn’t sign a prenup agreement prior to their marriage. However, the former couple did make another legal document to separate their property when they divorce. The court documents shows that they had a separation contract to determine how to split their property in case they ever got separated.
The separation contract is a private but legal document signed by the couple without involving the court. In the divorce filings shared by TMZ, the couple had asked to split their properties, including real, join, personal, and debts in accordance to the separation agreement. However, Melinda Gates has not asked any spousal support in the divorce fillings.
The couple is also asking for trail date sometime in April 2022. But, multiple reports claim that the divorce settlement will be done without involving the court. Bill tied the knot with Melinda on January 1, 1994, in Hawaii, after dating for almost seven years. The Gates along with their three children — Phoebe, Rory, and Jennifer — resides on family mansion named Xanadu 2.0.
