Reasons Why Jeff Bezos Would Never Sign A Marriage Agreement

Amazon’s founder and CEO, the wealthiest man on Earth, Jeff Bezos just announced on Wednesday that he and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, are going to divorce.

The couple has been together for 25 years, and they have four children.

According to Bloomberg’s estimation, Jeff Bezos’ net worth is $137 billion, and Amazon’s market cap is $792 billion.

At the moment, it is still unclear how Bezos and his wife will decide on asset division once their divorce is finalized. It also remains unclear whether a prenuptial agreement has ever been signed. Jeff Bezos established Amazon after he had married to MacKenzie (they first met when both of them were working at D.E.Shaw, an investment management firm located in New York). MacKenzie Bezos became one of the earliest employees at Amazon. There is a possibility that after Amazon was found, they did sign a postnuptial agreement.

So how a prenuptial agreement (prenup) differs from a postnuptial agreement (postnup)?

Only after years of marriage, when they realize that their relationship is being threatened, do some couples sign a postnup.

According to Kelly Frawley, who is working at Kassowitz Benson Torres specializing in family and matrimonial law, a prenup is a legal contract that two people sign before they get married that deals with financial problems and assets division if they divorce.

Prenups once received great disapproval but are regaining favor among couples.

A postup shares great similarities with a prenup. However, the distinct difference between them is that a postup takes place once a couple has already married. Heather Locus who is working at Balasa Dinverno Foltz as the chief of the divorce practice group wrote:

Locus continued saying that couples usually sign a postnup if they did not have time to sign one before they get married or when they realize that their relationship is being threatened and they want to clarify areas of conflict.

Back to our Amazon couple, if Jeff Bezos and his wife did have a prenup signed when they were staying in New York, issues like separate and marital property defining might have been covered. According to the legal-referral service of the New York City Bar Association, after a divorce happens, property belonging to just one person will be distinguished with property belongs to both partners.

However, if they signed a postnup when they were staying in Seattle, only the property acquired after they got married might have been defined.

If the Amazon couple did not sign either of these two marriage agreements, a judge would split their assets by half. As Washington is a state that has a community property law, all assets, as well as debts acquired by a couple during their marriage, are the property of both partners. Therefore, if they are divorced, each of them will receive half of the total assets.

On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos posted a statement on his Twitter account, saying that the couple would: