You may have seen Harold Hamm and his wife are going through a nasty divorce.  

A contentious divorce involving an Oklahoma oil baron could potentially lead to a multibillion-dollar settlement for his estranged wife that would be the biggest in U.S. history.

Harold Hamm, 67, the chief executive of Continental Resources, is in the midst of divorce proceedings with his second wife, former Continental Resources executive Sue Ann Hamm. After filing for divorce on May 19, 2012, she has claimed in court documents that her husband was unfaithful during their marriage. He has acknowledged that the couple separated back in 2005, and the two have lived separate lives ever since.

Hamm is worth an estimated $11.3 billion and was No. 35 on last year’s list of the 50 richest Americans put out by Forbes. The potential settlement his wife could receive may exceed the more than $1.7 billion paid out in 1999 to Anna Murdoch, the ex-wife of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, depending on whether or not there was a prenuptial agreement.

Today.com

Kind of a big deal, eh?  

Well, you've probably read that Harold Hamm bought North Dakota.  That being the case, there are all kinds of complicated legal issues that are going to have to be sorted out in the Hamm divorce case.  Now, admittedly, I don't know Oklahoma law, but if North Dakota law applied, I know the State of North Dakota would be part of the marital estate. The Hamms would have to divide up the State of North Dakota.  This could get tricky.  For example, there are three members of the State Industrial Commission:  Jack Dalrymple, Wayne Stehnjem and Doug Goehring.  You can't really split those three in half, I think.  So how will they divide up those guys?  It's complicated since they are part of the property that needs to be divided, but they are also (arguably) people.  So is there a hybrid Ruff-Fischer / Best Interests analysis that will happen?  The courts will have to sort that out.

And how will the Hamms divide the physical assets?  Will Harold take the Capitol Building and his wife Sue Ann take the WSI building, Dixie, the old Supreme Court building and the Highway Department building? That hardly seems fair. Maybe Harold will get the Senate and Sue Ann will get the House. Harold gets the Governor's office (as part of the division of the Industrial Commission) and Sue Ann gets Wayne Stenehjem, Doug Goehring and the Supreme Court.  That doesn't seem fair either.  Maybe Harold should ask for John Hoeven and a first round pick in the 2014 draft election, too.  Let Sue Ann take Kevin Cramer. He can't pitch, can't catch and has a pathetic batting average.  He's horrible.

Who gets the state highways and state parks?  Who gets the state colleges and universities?  Will they be dividing up the budget surplus?  Who gets the Highway Patrol?  Who gets the National Guard?  Who gets the State Library?  There are a lot of complicated family law issues that will be sorted out in the Hamm divorce.

This isn't just a big case for the Hamms; it's a huge case for the people of North Dakota.  

Pay attention to this divorce, folks.  It's really important.

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