Wife, husband disagree over $1 billion divorce settlement

High asset divorces don’t get much more “high asset” than this. An oil tycoon named Harold Hamm — whose personal net worth is estimated at $19 billion — went through a divorce with his wife a few months back, and in November of last year a judge ordered that Hamm had to pay his ex-wife nearly $1 billion. Actually, it was $974,790,317.77 to be exact. How do we know the exact figure?

Because in our source article, you can see an astonishing picture of the check Hamm wrote his wife to pay his part of the settlement. It is believed this divorce settlement is one of the largest in U.S. history, if not the largest.

However, there’s a twist in this tale. If you can believe it, Hamm’s ex-wife actually rejected the check because she is challenging the judge’s ruling on the amount she is owed under equitable distribution laws. And there’s another twist still: Hamm countered his ex-wife’s challenge by arguing that the nearly $1 billion he was giving her was too much.

We couldn’t make this stuff up. Just yesterday, this strange divorce seemed to reach it’s end, as the judge in the case rejected a change in the divorce agreement.

Remember that Arizona is a community property state, which is very different from equitable distribution. Regardless of the laws a state observes in the case of divorce, there can be intricate elements and unique circumstances that make the case a bit more complex than it may seem.

Source: Huffington Post, “Oil Tycoon Harold Hamm’s Ex-Wife Rejects $975 Million Divorce Check,” Cavan Sieczkowski, Jan. 7, 2015