Elon Musk and Justine Musk divorced after 8 years, 8 months of marriage. The settlement was reportedly an estimated $20M. See the full timeline.
Figures are reported estimates. Last updated Oct 2026.
Justine's side reported $2 million in cash, the family home, and $80,000 a month in support; Musk has said a 2002 property agreement was worth about $20 million after tax.
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX and later X, and Justine Wilson, a Canadian fantasy author, met at Queen's University in Ontario in the early 1990s and married in January 2000. Their first child, Nevada, died of sudden infant death syndrome at ten weeks in 2002, and the couple later had five sons, including twins and triplets, born through in vitro fertilization. Justine devoted herself to raising the family while Elon built his early companies.
Musk's fortune began with Zip2, which he sold to Compaq in 1999, and with X.com, which merged into PayPal and was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock. He then used his gains to start SpaceX in 2002 and to invest in Tesla in 2004. At the time of the divorce, he was a wealthy entrepreneur, but his fortune was largely tied up in his companies, which were short of cash in 2008.
The couple married in 2000 and had a family that grew with the use of IVF. In 2008 Musk filed for divorce, shortly after the failure of SpaceX's early launches and in the midst of Tesla's financial difficulties. The divorce was finalized in September 2008. Musk then began a relationship with the actress Talulah Riley, whom he married in 2010. Justine later said that the divorce was a painful experience.
The numbers come from two competing accounts. Justine has said she received about $2 million in cash, a house, a Tesla Roadster, child support and spousal support of $80,000 a month for several years. Musk wrote in 2010 that a property agreement signed in March 2002, about six weeks after the wedding, would give Justine about $20 million after tax, half as the house and half as support, and that he offered more than double that amount, which she rejected. He also said he sent her $20,000 a month for discretionary spending and paid the household and children's expenses. A court upheld the agreement as valid in 2010. The $20 million used on this page is Musk's own figure for the property agreement.
At the time of the divorce, most of Musk's wealth was in company shares rather than cash, and both Tesla and SpaceX were in a precarious position. That limited what could be paid out in cash, so the arrangement centered on cash, support payments and property, and Justine has said she did not receive a share in the companies.
The settlement did not threaten Musk's control of his companies. He kept his shares in Tesla and SpaceX, which became worth hundreds of billions of dollars within a decade. Justine later wrote that she had missed out on this increase, and the divorce became a frequently cited example of the difference between a cash settlement and an equity share in a start-up.
The Musk case is quite different from the larger entries on this list, in that the sum was small by comparison with the husband's eventual fortune. It is often cited as an example of how a divorce settlement at an early stage in a company's life can look modest years later. Musk's second divorce, from Talulah Riley, also appears on this list.
Musk was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time of the divorce, and has said that he was close to losing both Tesla and SpaceX in 2008. Justine's novels include Bloodangel and Ascendant. The couple's first child, Nevada Alexander, died in 2002. The figures quoted in the press come from the two spouses' own accounts and do not match exactly.
Justine Musk's reported settlement was about $20 million.
They married in 2000 and divorced in 2008, a marriage of roughly 8 years.
No prenuptial agreement was reported.
Yes, the family is reported to include 5 children.
$80,000 per month in spousal support.
Reported assets include: Cash, family home, $80,000/month support arrangement.
At the time of the divorce, most of Musk's wealth was in company shares rather than in cash, and both Tesla and SpaceX were in a precarious position. This limited the amount that could be paid out.
* Settlement terms were not publicly disclosed. This figure is an estimate.