June 15, 2026
Ultrarich Divorce
Here is another article from The Wall Street Journal series “The Cost of Divorce”. It initially appeared in the April 22, 2026 edition of The Wall Street Journal and was written by Gunjan Banerji.
As a reminder, this article, like all in the WSJ series, does not constitute legal advice and to the extent it reports about the law, may not accurately the law or even the legal procedure in Connecticut.
When the Ultrarich Divorce, This Lawyer Calculates What Their Solo Life Will Cost
For the superrich, divorce can resemble a high-stakes corporate liquidation.
The proceedings offer a peek into the lives of America’s growing ranks of millionaires and billionaires, and how wealth can alter the tenor of a marriage and shape its unwinding. In Manhattan, couples might not realize their spending tops $1 million a year until they split, said Jacqueline Newman, an attorney with Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein in New York. Her clients, who often have assets of more than $20 million, have to contend with whether they can maintain their lifestyles after a divorce.
That could include $12,000 a year for pet care and $50,000 a year for beauty expenses such as Botox treatments.
Newman, whose clients include bankers, hedge-fund managers and business owners, recalled one divorce where a spouse sought to retain access to the family plane. Her ex considered it off limits. The client rejected Newman’s suggestion of NetJets, which lets people become partial owners of private jets.
“Her response to me was that she doesn’t want to go on any other planes other than the private jet because they know how to set her seat,” Newman said. “So it’s perfect when she comes in and her drink is already ready for her.”
Often, the most bitter battles aren’t really about the money.
In another case, Newman said the ex-husband, a successful surgeon, likely spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to split from his wife. He was willing to walk away from the deal unless he won a grandfather clock, estimated at around $1,000. He won, and secured the heirloom. He planned to film himself burning it and send the video to his ex-wife.
Money is increasingly coming up even before couples tie the knot in discussions about prenuptial agreements. Newman isn’t a fan of infidelity clauses that require a spouse to pay up if they have an affair, since cheating can be tough to prove in court.
Still, she described one client who wanted an infidelity clause in his prenup—to prevent himself from cheating.
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