NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang resigned while we were live on Episode 72 of the I Just Want This Done Divorce Podcast, days after admitting an affair in a company-wide memo. That left one question hanging: if his wife, Lori, ever filed for divorce, what would happen to a fortune Forbes puts at more than $150 billion? No divorce has been filed, so all of this is speculation, but the story is a useful lens on how prenups, postnups and property division really work.
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Why didn’t Jensen Huang have a prenup?
Huang married at 22, years before NVIDIA existed. As Rahul pointed out, he had next to nothing to protect, and nobody imagined the company he would build three decades later. Raif’s view is that skipping a prenup in a first marriage isn’t foolish. It’s normal. “They don’t plan to fail,” he said of couples on their wedding day. Young couples usually expect to build everything together, in the same pot, and prenups tend to come up when family wealth is already on the table.
A postnup is no magic fix
So why not sign a postnup once NVIDIA took off? Because a postnup has to be fair and fully disclosed, and both spouses negotiate it. Raif compares that to negotiating a divorce settlement while you’re still married, and asking for one out of nowhere can be a red flag at home. He shared a real case where a couple used a postnup to split their assets into thirds instead of divorcing, and Rahul explained why a spouse who’s been betrayed might want one before trying again. What a postnup can’t be is one-sided. “Jensen can’t just say, Oh yeah, all of NVIDIA is mine. Have a nice day, Lori,” Raif joked. We went deeper on postnups in Episode 29.
Community property: why a California divorce starts at 50/50
The hosts assumed California law would apply. California is a community property state, where what a couple acquires during the marriage is generally split equally. Illinois, where STG practices, divides marital property equitably instead, which doesn’t always mean 50/50. Trusts add another layer: assets placed in a trust for the kids may sit outside the marital estate if both spouses agreed to it and it wasn’t set up as divorce planning. Press estimates of a potential settlement have ranged from about $60 billion (the New York Post) to at least $75 billion (Forbes) and up to $81 billion (IBTimes). Nobody knows the real number.
Does the affair change who gets what?
As the hosts explained, marital misconduct isn’t a basis for dividing property in California or in Illinois, so the affair alone doesn’t shift the split. “The affair does not affect the divorce in and of itself,” Rahul said. Money is different. When a spouse spends marital funds on an affair, the other spouse can ask to be reimbursed through what’s called a dissipation claim. Rahul’s hypothetical: spend $1.5 million on affairs, and you could owe your spouse half of it back.
Hiding assets offshore doesn’t work
What about the Cook Islands trusts and Nevada LLCs advertised on TV? Raif was blunt: they don’t beat a divorce court. Moving assets like that comes with federal reporting requirements and an electronic trail, and a divorce judge here can still order the other spouse’s half paid from the money that’s still in the U.S. “If there was a way to really do this I would have written a book,” Raif said.
Inside the episode
02:22 Breaking news: Jensen Huang resigns as CEO
05:16 Why didn’t Jensen Huang have a prenup?
13:33 Community property vs. equitable division
18:37 Does the affair change who gets what?
24:56 Why a postnup is no magic fix
35:18 No maintenance after a 35-year marriage?
Episode references
Listen to the full episode for the live reaction, plus Halle Berry’s restraining order update, a holiday parenting-time reminder (it’s the kids’ time, not yours) and a listener question about why a 35-year marriage didn’t come with maintenance. Going through a divorce in the Chicago area? Schedule a consultation, sign up for our free biweekly Illinois divorce webinar, or pick up I Just Want This Done, our bestselling guide to divorce.
As always, state law varies. This is not legal advice. Consult with a skilled divorce lawyer in your area for information about your specific situation.
