What with all this hullabaloo around Jensen Huang – the former CEO of Nvidia – and his (not one) but TWO extramarital affairs (with one woman who may or may not be a Chinese spy?) and his subsequent resignation, everyone’s talking about prenuptial agreements.
Apparently, the Huangs – Jensen and his wife of FORTY YEARS, Lori, who he met when he was 17 and who SOLD HER WEDDING RING to support him when the company was struggling – did not have one.
Great news. Excellent news. Although his wife’s heartbreak and grief must be tremendous, no doubt made worse by all of this being very in the public eye and the butt of many jokes (not unlike the Coldplay CEO viral moment a few years ago), at least she’s going to be able to claim her interest in the community property. (Virginia, just for the record, is not a community property state; we’re an equitable distribution state. But the Huangs don’t live in Virginia.)
Of course, in many ways, this is much, much more complicated than your average, run-of-the-mill divorce involving adultery. It is set, according to some, to become the most expensive divorce in history. Not to mention, of course, the cost to the global economy.
But I’m not here to talk about the stock market. I’m not even here to talk about prenuptial agreements, though I’m glad – for his wife’s sake – that they seem not to have one. Also, lucky for them, their children are grown, so this also isn’t a full-fledged custody battle.
I daresay his wife is not thinking that anything is particularly lucky for her right now. And it isn’t – especially since, now, her husband has resigned from Nvidia.
Your husband probably isn’t a billionaire. The world economy doesn’t depend on his contributions to a global corporation. But your personal economy does.
So, what happens when your husband gets fired during or before your Virginia divorce?
One of my biggest concerns when there’s a firing involved in a case is whether he’ll be able to get hired again in a commensurate position with similar pay. Hopefully, that’s something that can happen quickly, because – obviously – the family needs the income to survive. Right? And, especially if you’re newly separated or divorcing, you’re a lesser earning or stay at home wife, the implications for both of your immediate financial future can be severe. I don’t hold the keys to his hiring or firing; he’s going to have to do the work himself to get back out there.
In the meantime, I wouldn’t make it harder. I wouldn’t want to be the reason behind his firing, either. If you, like Lori Huang, find out your husband is cheating or involved in some less-than-wholesome enterprise, I wouldn’t want to be the whistleblower. I wouldn’t call his boss or his command and report him myself. I wouldn’t want him to be fired, because his employment status has a lot to do with the ultimate divorce settlement. And the judge is less likely to be sympathetic to you if you’re claiming poverty because of a firing that you helped orchestrate.
So, don’t call his boss or his command. Don’t get him fired.
If he’s fired anyway…
Is it his fault that he was fired – and does that matter for your Virginia divorce?
This question matters a lot. A job layoff is a very different thing – hey, it could happen to anybody – than a for-cause firing. A for-cause firing is worse for him. For you, it’s more likely to work in your favor. Still, though, keep in mind that “working in your favor,” is not the same thing as being as good for you as it might have been had he kept his job. Courts are often very pragmatic. They’ll look at his income, work experience, and potential and consider that in any award of equitable distribution or even spousal support.
You’re just more likely to be viewed through a sympathetic lens if it was his fault and you’re an innocent party.
Does that mean you’ll still get the same division of assets in your divorce?
Well, not – not necessarily. But, of course, it all depends. If, for example, your soon-to-be ex husband is military and he’s booted before he’s got 20 years in, he may lose his entire retirement. You can’t get a piece of a pie that doesn’t exist. Retirement – poof. It’s gone. Nothing to divide.
Could you argue that he should give you something else in exchange for the interest in retirement that would have been yours had his bad act not gotten him booted? Maybe. But does he have anything else to give? Is that even possible? I think it would take an extremely egregious bad act, but who knows? Ultimately, that’s one of the things that is up to the judge. It’s also, not a little bit, kind of up to your budget and what you can afford to make an issue of. Would you take this to court not knowing the outcome? I can’t answer that for you either.
Does it mean you’ll still get spousal support?
I mean, that depends, too. Hopefully, he’ll get a new job quickly and he’ll be compensated similarly. That would help.
But if he can’t get a similar job or similar compensation, he may not be able to pay support. Remember, the first prong of a spousal support case is determining both need AND ability to pay. I worry that, very quickly, we run into a scenario where – whether your fault or his fault or no one’s fault – there just isn’t an ability to pay.
And, as my mom would say, you can’t get blood from a rock. No matter how sympathetic you are, the judge may not be able to find money to award to you.
So, even though it’s totally unfair and you likely had little to nothing to do with his firing or layoff, it may have real world implications for your divorce. Do you delay – or do you cut your losses now? Each case is unique and it’s probably a good idea to talk to a family law attorney about your options before you make any big decisions.
For more information, to schedule a consultation (where we can also run guideline spousal support calculations both before and after and even, if necessary, projected based off of his salary at his new job), or to register to attend an upcoming divorce seminar, visit our website at hoflaw.com or call us at 757-425-5200.