Let's say you are a board member or CEO of a company whose stock is due to tank badly and you can't sell it legally because of insider trading laws. Well, there is a work around called DIVORCE: reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/aeb3nq/how_to_insider_trade/ Lou Pai an officer of ENRON knocked up a striper and got a divorce just before the company's stock went into a death spiral. The divorce court actually made him to sell the stocks. He sold at $72, 4 months later the stock was at $1. Timing is everything. He made 270M and although later he was fine 31M, and he had to share the 270M, he still came out way ahead: "So, let's do the math. Allegedly made $270mil. Forced to liquidate shares for a divorce, 270/2=135mil. Settled with the SEC (probably "'no admission of wrongdoing", but barred from being a boardsitter for five years) for $31.5 mil. Walk away with ~100 mil (after legal fees, which were probably at least a couple of million). Not bad for a decade and a half's worth of "work"." "He sold his stock at $72, two months later it was $15, four months later, it was $1 and they filed for bankruptcy soon after"
I'd actually add that divorce may be really emotional, it can make you feel vulnerable and unprotected... I think saving your mental health is more important, to be honest. When my divorce process started, I used to check breakupangels.com and read stories about other people's experiences and how they coped with their issues. I think my divorce went smoother because of the helpful tips and advice that I found there. It all could have ended much worse for me because my ex is a total jerk, to tell you the truth... I needed a lot of patience and resolve to get over this situation and get rid of this abusive relationship. I'm so happy that I can live freely now! No one humiliates me or makes my life miserable.
Was married sixteen years and went through a divorce that took two and half years to settle. My closing thoughts there really isn't a way to save money unless you had a prenuptial agreement. Whether you want it or not the divorce sucks all the way around for everyone both spouses and with kids it will always suck for them. Went though my own parent's divorce at 20 and even being older it still sucked and changed the holidays forever. With time it gets better you stop hating each other and drop the childish nastiness that seems to come out of nowhere. You learn to respect each other and dabble into the always delicate art of co-parenting. For me having been married at 22 I offered half of everything up front and agreed to take on most of the expenses for the kids as my income was a multiple of my wife's. Of course she thought she should shoot for the moon drug it out beyond a reasonable time frame, changed lawyers three times, and ended up getting less than she was initially offered and thanks to my choice to relocate and take a job that paid a third of what I was making I dodged the ever dreaded spousal support. I have friends who weren't so lucky but their situation was different. If the spouse didn't work and took care of the kids while your career blossomed you're probably fucked with spousal support and in some ways it's reasonable. Unless you're a complete narcissistic ass you'll just have to accept this and go on with life. I see a lot of people stuck in bitterness for a long time with this shit. Life's too short to be miserable and the best advice I had from a friend who is a high powered divorce attorney in Atlanta was to just suck it up settle and move on. Whining never helps. It won't be fair and it won't feel fair but there's more to look forward to. I had a friend whose wife sued for custody of his dog and then had it put down just to be an evil bitch. That's about as ugly as it can get. That and trying to embarrass each other with endless discovery. My dad told me it took him ten years to recover financially. I'd say I'm back to even going on four years after should be there at five in terms of assets and net worth. If you want to save money settle quickly and don't worry about getting every penny. The sooner you stop getting billing packets from your attorney for $45 for looking at an email the sooner you can get your shit back together and move on. Just IMHO.
Why would ANYONE enter into a contractual relationship agreement? You can't live together without a legal document?