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Fenchel Family Law Managing Attorney Laura Chickering was featured in the Daily Journal‘s article, “AI Fortunes Complicate Divorce Valuations, but Not the Law.” The article looks at how Bay Area family law attorneys are handling divorces involving private-company equity, volatile valuations and complex compensation packages tied to artificial intelligence companies.
Chickering notes that many founders now address equity before or during marriage through prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. These agreements define which shares, and which future appreciation, will remain separate property. She also compares the AI boom to earlier cycles like the dot-com era, when courts first dealt with unvested stock options. The core tools from those periods still apply, including time-rule apportionment, deferred distribution and expert valuation. What feels different, she explains, is speed and scale: AI companies can reach very high valuations within a few years while staying private and illiquid for longer.
Looking ahead, Chickering expects these cases to add some pressure to court calendars. Valuation disputes over private AI companies require expert testimony, and judges are still getting familiar with the issues.
