这场备受争议的离婚诉讼，涉及对冲基金巨头约翰·奥弗德克（John Overdeck）与他分居多年的妻子劳拉（Laura），为公众提供了一个难得的机会，让他们得以了解华尔街所创造的巨额财富。对于律师和其他顾问来说，这个案例堪称一个典型的例子：当企业创始人或其他经营者不采取措施保护自己的公司时，这些财富反而可能给他们带来巨大的麻烦。
The contentious divorce trial of hedge-fund titan John Overdeck and his estranged wife Laura has offered the public a rare window into the mind-boggling wealth being generated on Wall Street. To lawyers and other advisers, the case reads like a textbook example of how that wealth can come back to bite, especially when founders and other business owners don’t take steps to protect their companies.“How many times is he kicking himself now?” said New York divorce attorney Lisa Zeiderman of John Overdeck.
“他现在肯定在自责不已吧？”纽约的离婚律师丽莎·蔡德曼（Lisa Zeiderman）说道，“在离婚诉讼中，每个人的压力点都显而易见；这种处境实在非常危险。”事实上，许多人未来都可能面临类似的处境。根据美国人口普查局的数据，2026年至今的企业注册速度达到了多年来的最高水平，这在很大程度上要归功于人工智能带来的创新。而创业活动本身就伴随着独特的财务规划需求。
“Everyone knows what everyone’s pressure points are in a divorce. It’s a very dangerous place to be.”It is a situation that many could one day find themselves in. Business formation so far in 2026 is happening at the fastest pace in years, according to Census Bureau data, thanks in part to artificial intelligence-driven innovation. And entrepreneurship comes with unique financial planning considerations.
作为对冲基金“Two Sigma”的联合创始人，约翰·奥弗德克向妻子提出支付7.23亿美元作为离婚赔偿金。劳拉则认为他们的夫妻共同财产中应包括他在该基金公司的股份；她本人要求获得约22亿美元——这相当于她估计的基金总价值的35%。两人已在新泽西州纽瓦克的法院展开了长达数月的诉讼。这场诉讼可能会诞生历史上金额最大的离婚赔偿协议之一，同时也可能影响到“Two Sigma”基金公司的内部权力斗争（约翰·奥弗德克长期以来一直与公司的联合创始人大卫·西格尔（David Siegel）存在矛盾）。
John Overdeck, the billionaire co-founder of hedge fund Two Sigma, is offering his wife $723 million. Laura Overdeck says their marital assets should include his stake in the hedge-fund firm. Among other things, she wants about $2.2 billion—35% of what she thinks it is worth. The two have been fighting it out in a Newark, N.J., court for months. The trial could produce one of the largest divorce settlements in history. It could also have a bearing on the power struggle at Two Sigma, where John Overdeck has been engaged in a long-running feud with his co-founder, David Siegel.
如果当初他们能够进行周密的财务规划，或许就能避免这场纷争的发生……
Here is how some careful financial planning might have helped avoid this saga.
建议：签署婚前协议（Prenup）约翰·奥弗德克于2002年3月向劳拉求婚，当时“Two Sigma”基金刚刚开始运作，其投资规模仅为2000多万美元；同年他们结婚时，该基金的管理资产已增长至约3.5亿美元。
Sign a prenupJohn Overdeck proposed to Laura Overdeck in March 2002, a month before Two Sigma started investing with over $20 million in capital. By the time they married later that year, Two Sigma’s assets under management had climbed to about $350 million.
尽管如此，这对夫妇并未签署婚前协议。离婚律师表示，如果他们签署了，协议可以从简单的条款开始，例如“婚姻财产不得包含对该企业的任何权益”。旧金山Fenchel Family Law律师事务所的管理律师Laura Chickering最近一直在为AI企业的创始人起草类似的婚前协议条款。“当企业规模尚小，但你隐约觉得其潜在上升空间未知时，就是签署婚前协议的最佳时机，”她说。
Still, the couple didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement. If they had, it could have started with something as simple as “the marital estate shall not include any interest in the business,” divorce attorneys say. Laura Chickering, managing attorney at Fenchel Family Law in San Francisco, has recently been writing similar terms into prenups for founders of AI businesses.“When the business is small, but you have an inkling that you don’t know what the potential upside is, that is the best time to sign a prenup,” she said.
Chickering建议创始人做好谈判准备并作出让步。例如，创始人可能同意在离婚时放弃一处房产或其他贵重资产，以换取保留企业。她建议将他们的薪水保留为婚姻财产，以表明婚姻财产从其就业中获得了收益。婚前为企业估值在新泽西州，与其他州一样，除非婚前协议另有规定，否则婚姻存续期间企业的增值部分可能面临公平分配，即使该企业是在婚前创立的。
Chickering tells founders to be prepared to negotiate and to make concessions. For example, a founder might agree to give up a home or another valuable asset in exchange for the business, in the event of divorce. She recommends their salary remain a marital asset to show that the marital estate is receiving a benefit from their employment. Value your business before marriageIn New Jersey, as in other states, the growth of a business during a marriage can be subject to equitable distribution even if it was founded before the marriage, unless otherwise specified in a prenup.
这正是Laura Overdeck主张有权分得Two Sigma一部分份额的关键所在。John Overdeck辩称他在该公司的股份价值为45亿美元，而Laura Overdeck则称其价值为62亿美元。
That is key to Laura Overdeck’s claim that she is entitled to a portion of Two Sigma. John Overdeck has argued his stake in the firm is worth $4.5 billion, while Laura Overdeck has said it is worth $6.2 billion.
受约翰·奥弗德克聘请的一位估值专家作证称，他在结婚时持有的公司股份价值为5000万美元。劳拉·奥弗德克一方对这一估值提出异议，并辩称其丈夫在Two Sigma的股权直到结婚很久之后才归属。离婚律师表示，在婚前拥有关于企业价值——以及创始人股份价值——的清晰文件记录，可以在原本幸福的夫妻日后成为对手时，减少一些估值方面的博弈。
A valuation expert hired by John Overdeck testified that his stake in the business was worth $50 million at the time of marriage. Laura Overdeck’s side is disputing this valuation and has argued that her husband’s equity in Two Sigma didn’t vest until well after the marriage. Having clear documentation of a business’s value—and the value of the founder’s stake—before the marriage can reduce some of the valuation gamesmanship if a once-happy couple later become adversaries, divorce lawyers say.
给自己发放市场薪资约翰·奥弗德克作证称，他拥有设定自己薪资的控制权，这是企业主的常见特征，但在离婚案中可能使他们受到审查。律师表示，企业主可能被指控故意少付自己薪资，以从婚姻共同财产中隐瞒资金。为避免此类指控，他们应聘请第三方协助确定市场薪酬水平，并妥善保存确定薪酬所用方法的记录。
Pay yourself a market salaryJohn Overdeck testified that he had control over setting his own salary, a common trait among business owners that can open them up to scrutiny in a divorce. An owner could be accused of intentionally underpaying themselves to withhold money from the marital estate, lawyers say. To avoid such accusations, they should engage third parties to help determine market-rate compensation and keep careful records on the methods used to determine it.
芝加哥Levenfeld Pearlstein律师事务所的信托与遗产律师罗伯特·罗曼诺夫表示，他在婚前协议中加入过条款，要求持有企业的一方委托开展薪酬研究。“如果他们一直薪酬偏低，是否应该上调薪酬？”罗曼诺夫说，“你需要在重大生活事件发生前提前规划。”将企业与家族办公室分开直到2023年前后，Two Sigma一直运营着一个多家族办公室，管理约翰·奥弗德克和西格尔的资金。
Robert Romanoff, a trust and estates lawyer at Levenfeld Pearlstein in Chicago, said he has included provisions in premarital agreements requiring that a business-owning spouse commission a compensation study.“Should they make a change to their compensation upward if they’ve been underpaid?”Romanoff said. “You need to plan ahead of major life events.”Separate your business from your family officeUp until around 2023, Two Sigma operated a multifamily office that managed the money of both John Overdeck and Siegel.
根据法庭证词，当时Two Sigma的员工为奥弗德克提供个人服务。在一次问答中，约翰·奥弗德克作证称，他曾与当时Two Sigma的总法律顾问马修·西亚诺讨论过将劳拉从他们的家族基金会中移除的事宜。
Two Sigma employees provided personal services to Overdeck during that time, according to court testimony. In one exchange, John Overdeck testified that he had a conversation with Matthew Siano, then Two Sigma’s general counsel, about removing Laura from their family foundation.
由于 Siano 代表的是 Two Sigma 而非 Overdeck，法官驳回了 Overdeck 试图主张律师-委托人特权的请求。
Because Siano was representing Two Sigma and not Overdeck, the judge denied Overdeck’s attempt to claim attorney-client privilege.
对于与家族办公室打交道的人来说，业务与个人事务界限模糊是常态。“这正是绝大多数家族办公室的本质，”Kirkland & Ellis 的信托与遗产律师 David Handler 说。“它们是非正式运作的。”
To people who work with family offices, the blurring of the lines between business and personal are common.“That’s the nature of the vast majority of family offices,” said David Handler, a trust and estates lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis. “It’s informal.”
他表示，让员工介入个人事务会给该员工带来压力，并产生潜在的利益冲突。他们最终可能会做一些有利于老板但损害其他家庭成员或股东利益的事情。
Asking an employee to get involved in personal affairs puts a strain on that person and creates the potential for conflicts of interest, he said. They could end up doing something that helps their boss at the expense of other family members or shareholders.
曾任职于德勤、并曾在上市公司、私营公司及家族办公室董事会任职的 Kimberly Valentine-Poska 表示，家族办公室应当聘请独立的顾问、保存清晰的记录，并通过定期向所有家庭成员提供报告来保持透明。
Family offices should have separate advisers, keep clear records and be transparent by providing regular reports to all members of the family, said Kimberly Valentine-Poska, a former Deloitte partner who has served on the boards of public companies, private companies and family offices.
Valentine-Poska 说，家族办公室董事会工作与所有者的合作关系比上市公司更紧密，因为她是在帮助建立治理架构并对股东进行教育。“你必须像建立一个独立的企业那样去建立家族办公室，”她说。
Valentine-Poska said family-office board work involves a closer working relationship with the owners than a public company, because she is helping to put governance in place and educating shareholders.“You have to go in and set up a family office like it’s its own business,” she said. Write to Miriam Gottfried at Miriam. Gottfried@wsj.com