Divorces are notorious for being expensive. In the United States, the median cost of a divorce is around $7,000, with the average price of a divorce ranging between $15,000 and $20,000. With an average hourly cost of a divorce lawyer being $270, expenses rack up quickly. The more contested and complicated a divorce is, the more expensive it tends to be, especially if it goes to trial. However, these burdensome prices are a minuscule blip compared to the divorces of the rich and powerful. This infographic explores the 44 most expensive divorces of all time – 9 of them cost over $1 billion! The most expensive divorce of all time was between Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, and MacKenzie Scott, his wife of 25 years. Their 2019 divorce cost an utterly staggering $38 billion! Fortunately, MacKenzie Scott has put a hefty chunk of this colossal fortune to good use. Since 2020, Scott has given $14.4 billion to nearly 1,600 nonprofits, adopting a “no strings attached” style of giving wherein the charities have full control over how to use the funds.
