News of Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce only surfaced once a deal had been done and every “i” had been dotted and “t” crossed in their no doubt mammoth and confidential settlement agreement. So the world never got to witness the months, and, perhaps years, of legal work in the background that went into fairly separating their estimated $160 billion of assets.

While, in some ways, such divorces can be easier to manage than those where there is a minute fraction of that amount available for distribution, with every pound being bitterly fought over, such substantial divorces do throw up their own problems that require cons...