Alt text: Couple discussing a divorce with a lawyer mediating 

Marriage is beautiful and allows you to share a life with someone you love till death. Unfortunately, not every marriage lasts that long. Marriages usually end in divorce after months, years, or even decades together. Things get even more complicated when the people getting divorced are wealthy public figures. These cases usually cost a lot of money, and the public eye is always on things like alimony and child support. Settling these bills can cost a pretty penny. We will be checking out some of the most expensive alimony settlements in recent times.

Rupert Murdoch - $200 Million

Rupert Murdoch is a retired business magnet worth billions of dollars. Over the years, he has gotten married and divorced multiple times. However, his most expensive divorce yet cost him a total sum of $1.7 billion. Thanks to the efforts of experts like an Annapolis alimony lawyer, his ex-wife, Anna Torv, could get favourable terms. She chose $200 million in alimony to be paid as a lump sum when their marriage ended after 32 years. Murdoch gave Torv $1.7 billion in assets and insisted that control of the family business be shared equally among all their children.

Michael Jordan - $168 Million

As one of the best basketballers in history, Michael Jordan made a lot of money during his prime. So, when he divorced his wife Juanita Vanoy in 2006, everyone was eager to know how much he would settle after 17 years of marriage. After the divorce proceedings, Jordan paid Juanita about $168 million in alimony. She also got half of his entire estate, custody of their three children, and a seven-acre property the couple shared. Jordan paid Juanita the alimony in a lump sum. Years later, in 2013, he married Yvette Prieto, who he has been with ever since.

Steven Spielberg - $100 Million

Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg lists our most expensive alimonies in the industry. After he left his wife, Amy Irving, in 1989, he agreed to pay her $100 million over an extended period. Irving also got a fair share of their joint assets and investments. His divorce made headlines because he and his wife signed a prenup on a napkin, and his lawyers tried to prove that it was legally binding. The napkin prenup didn't hold up during the court case, and Irving got her demands.

Tiger Woods - $100 Million

Tiger Woods is globally known as one of the greatest professional golfers ever. His career spanned decades, during which he made a fortune. However, his reputation took a hit in 2010 when he was caught in several cheating scandals that moved his wife, Elin Nordegren, to file for divorce. Elon's layers got Woods to pay her a whopping $100 million lump sum in alimony. She also took custody of their kids and several properties. While the entire divorce cost was never disclosed, experts estimate that Woods spent over $500 million during that period.

Harrison Ford - $85 Million

Hollywood actor Harrison Ford left his wife, Melissa Mathison, in 2004 after 21 years of marriage. This was after being separated for up to four years. The reasons behind the divorce were unclear, but Ford didn't have a prenup before the marriage. He agreed to pay Mathison about $85 million in alimony. Unlike Woods, who spent the lump sum once, Ford paid in installments over time. Apart from the alimony, Mathison got a significant share of their investments and houses. Ford married his current wife, Calista Flockhart, in 2010.

Conclusion

Ending a marriage is never pleasant, but it gets even more complicated when you think of asset division, alimony, child support, and similar variables.