By Toby Yerburgh, partner & head of family law, Collyer Bristow

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) confidential settlement agreement.

So the world never got to witness the months, and perhaps years, of legal work that went into fairly separating their estimated $160 billion of assets.

While, in some ways, such divorces...