Sometimes Google investor Scott Hassan sounds as if he’s perfectly willing to share his billions with his former wife, Allison Huynh. “I have no doubt we will land on a resolution that makes her a woman with generational wealth,” he wrote recently in an email to the New York Times.
After all, Hassan and Huynh spent more than a decade as husband and wife, and his wealth – the bulk of which is due to an early investment in Google (he bought 160,000 shares for just $800) – is estimated at more than $13 billion, more than enough for two to share.
The beginning of the end
Seven years ago, Hassan texted Huynh to tell her that their marriage was over. While that is true, the property division portion of their divorce continues and has finally made its way to trial.
Though the wealthy in Silicon Valley are typically loathe to air their divorce grievances in public, the financial stakes – and antipathy – in the Hassan-Huynh split is extraordinarily high.
Divorce tales
The story of their split includes his failed attempt to get her to sign a postnuptial agreement soon after Google went public. He reportedly offered her stock in the search engine valued then at $20 million – less than 10 percent of his stake in the company. She said she was hurt and blindsided by his offer, which she then rejected.
The divorce tale also includes his confession that he created a website using her name to make intimate details of a past Huynh relationship embarrassingly public.
More money fights
The trial will resolve not only their long battle over marital property but settle disputes over spousal support (also known as alimony) and child support (in their 2020 marriage dissolution, they agreed to shared custody of their three teen children).
The website about Huynh that Hassan said he created in “a moment of frustration,” included “salacious details about a past relationship,” according to the Times. Hassan now concedes that the site made their divorce disputes “more public and tense.”
Lowering the temperature
No skilled and experienced family law attorney wants clients to fuel animosity and public interest in a divorce or other family law dispute. Those who are facing the prospect of a Maryland divorce should speak to a lawyer who understands how to bring levels of anger and animosity down, which is especially important for divorcing parents.
