Multi-State Divorce & Family Law Blog by Stange Law Firm, PC

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, a genetic-testing entrepreneur and co-founder of 23andMe, have separated and their lives are dissected in a fascinating article, O. K., Glass: Make Google Eyes, written by Vanessa Grigoriadis.The story begins when Brin and Wojcicki met in 1998. Brin was a Stanford computer-science graduate student when he moved off campus with classmate, Larry Page, to set up a search-engine company in Wojcicki’s sister Susan’s garage. This was the start of Google.Wojcicki was a high-energy, athletic, popular Yale graduate, who majored in biology. Wojcicki’s father was chairman of Stanford’s physics department and

What Are Domestic Asset Protection Trusts? Domestic Asset Protections Trusts (“DAPTs”) are irrevocable trusts that can be established in states that have special laws for this very specific type of trust. DAPTs allow the settler of the trust to be a discretionary beneficiary while still protecting the trust’s assets from the settlor’s creditors.1 In reality DAPTs are not solely a tool for protecting your assets during divorce, but have been a way for wealthy families and individuals to shield their assets from creditors.2 This type of trust can be a useful tool in assisting your clients in protecting their assets.

Vladimir Potanin, a billionaire who helped bankroll much of the Winter Olympics including an entire ski resort in Sochi, is involved in a highly contentious divorce that is spilling over to the US.According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Potanin, 53 and father of three children, has a $13.5 billion fortune. Prior to filing for divorce, he joined the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge initiative last year to donate most of his wealth to charity. His assets include a 30% stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium. Potanin’s spurned wife, Natalia Potanina, who was

A complex divorce requires certain actions that are not always applicable in every divorce. Divorce can be challenging no matter the income bracket or assets of those involved. A high-asset divorce, however, may require certain considerations and actions that do not apply in all divorce cases. Professional degrees, professional practices, business ownership, retirement assets and real estate can require more negotiation and a greater complexity in a division of assets than may be needed otherwise. A couple need not be on “The Forbes 400” richest people in America list for complex divorce considerations to be relevant. Couples who have worked