On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, billionaire hedge fund manager, Ken Griffin, and his wife, Anne Dias Griffin finally reached a divorce settlement for their high-net worth divorce, putting an end to a 14-month-long divorce battle. The couple reached the agreement one day after their public trial over their prenuptial agreement was scheduled to begin.
Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, along with their respective attorneys arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday to finalize their divorce. Court documents show that on Tuesday, the judgment was signed by the judge and by the Griffins' attorneys.
Griffin filed for divorce from Dias in July 2014 after 11 years of marriage. On Monday, Oct. 5, the divorce trial began in a Chicago courtroom, and if the Citadel CEO didn't reach a settlement with Dias, it was expected to drag on for months.
Assuming Griffin wasn't keen about a public trial that would draw unwanted scrutiny into his personal finances, divorce attorneys agreed that the Griffins would reach a settlement rather than enduring a protracted trial, and that is what they did.
Married since 2003, the couple has three young children together. Initially, Dias was seeking sole custody of the children with Griffin getting reasonable visitation. She also wanted to move to New York with the children. Griffin wanted joint custody.
The Griffins agreed to joint custody of the children, and according to the court document, Dias withdrew her petition asking to relocate to New York with the kids.
Aside from their child custody agreement, the details of the financial settlement have not been disclosed.
The couple has been battling over the validity of their prenuptial agreement, with Dias claiming that she signed the prenup under duress. However, the court documents show that the couple's prenup, signed in July 2003 is valid.
The three-part trial was to address the prenup, the couple's finances including child support, and child custody and visitation, with custody being addressed in January. On Wednesday morning (Oct. 7), an administrator from Cook County Circuit Court announced that the Griffins had reached an agreement.
J. Frank, an attorney in Illinois told the Chicago Tribune that it's preferable to reach a settlement because the couple reaches the resolution, and there is no third party who doesn't know the parties deciding who gets what.