A Multi-Billion Dollar Divorce: What All Divorcing Women Can Learn From Sue Ann Hamm

A Multi-Billion Dollar Divorce: What All Divorcing Women Can Learn From Sue Ann Hamm A Multi-Billion Dollar Divorce: What All Divorcing Women Can Learn From Sue Ann Hamm Every once in a while, a high-profile divorce makes financial, as well as social, headlines. While I’m sure that the litigants would happily do without the negative publicity in either realm, their cases often provide divorce financial professionals like me with opportunities to illustrate certain points. This fall, it’s the pending divorce of Sue Ann Hamm from her estranged husband, Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm, that’s providing several “teachable moments.” Mr. Hamm is founder and chairman of Continental Resources (CLR), the largest leaseholder in North Dakota’s enormously productive Bakken Shale. With more than $17 billion reportedly at stake, their case is shaping up to be the largest divorce settlement in history. I’ve written about the Hamms before, as part of a discussion of the pros and cons of hiring your husband to work in your business. Their trial is now underway, and though the judge has enacted significant restrictions on public access to the proceedings and evidence, enough documentation has been released to put the case in financial headlines once again. As a divorcing woman, what can you learn from Hamm v. Hamm, even if your own settlement is not likely to make you a billionaire? Plenty.