Frank McCourt and Jamie McCourt divorced after 32 years of marriage. The settlement was reportedly about $131M. Full timeline and prenup facts inside.
Figures are reported estimates. Last updated Oct 2026.
The battle over the LA Dodgers nearly bankrupted the franchise.
Frank McCourt, a Boston property developer, and Jamie McCourt, a lawyer who later worked in the family's business empire, married in 1979 and had four sons. The couple built a large property business in Massachusetts and moved to California after Frank bought the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in 2004. They became fixtures of Los Angeles society, and Jamie served as an executive in the Dodgers organization. Their separation, which became public in 2009, turned a private marital dispute into a drama closely tied to one of the most famous sports franchises in America.
Frank McCourt's wealth came from the Boston-based McCourt Company, which developed and managed commercial real estate, including large parking and office properties. He purchased the Dodgers from News Corporation in 2004 for roughly $430 million, using a highly leveraged deal. Jamie McCourt held a senior role at the club and the couple lived on a scale that included multiple luxury homes. Much of their wealth, however, was tied up in property and borrowing, which would make the later divorce unusually complicated.
The McCourts married in 1979 and spent three decades together. Their marriage began to unravel in 2009, when Frank dismissed Jamie from her executive role at the Dodgers, and she filed for divorce soon afterwards. A dispute over whether a postnuptial agreement signed in 2004 was valid dominated the case, and a judge ruled against it in 2010. The divorce settlement was agreed in October 2011, shortly after the Dodgers had been placed in bankruptcy protection, and the final arrangement was confirmed in 2012 after a sale of the team.
Jamie McCourt received a divorce payment of about $131 million, a figure reported in the press, along with an arrangement that meant she was not forced to share in some of the debts. The settlement was agreed in late 2011 and was funded from the proceeds of the sale of the Dodgers to a group led by Guggenheim Partners and Magic Johnson in 2012, which was valued at about $2 billion. Frank McCourt kept a share of the proceeds and some of the land near Dodger Stadium.
The key legal question was the status of the postnuptial agreement, which had stated that the Dodgers belonged to Frank alone. A Los Angeles judge found that there were several versions of the document and ruled that it was not valid, which opened the possibility that the team was community property to be divided equally. That risk pushed both sides to settle. The enormous rise in the Dodgers' value, from roughly $430 million to about $2 billion, also meant that the sale of the team generated far more money than had been expected.
The divorce had a very large effect on the Dodgers. Money problems tied to the dispute contributed to a bankruptcy filing in 2011, and Major League Baseball took a hands-on role in the sale of the team. The new owners paid roughly $2 billion, a record for a North American sports team at the time, and McCourt retained parts of the parking lots around the stadium. The case remains one of the best examples of how a marital dispute can threaten the control of a major sports franchise.
The McCourt case is usually remembered less for the size of the payout than for its role in a team sale. Compared with the Jordan or Woods settlements, it was a business fight with a sports club at its center, and its outcome was shaped by bankruptcy law, league rules and a dispute over how to treat a postnuptial document. It is often cited alongside the Polsky case as an example of how documents signed during a marriage can be challenged in court.
The dispute produced several copies of the postnuptial agreement, and the question of which one was valid became a central part of the trial. Jamie McCourt had earlier trained as a lawyer and became a senior executive in the Dodgers organization. After the sale, the new ownership group included basketball star Magic Johnson. The $131 million figure is widely quoted, although other numbers appeared as the settlement evolved.
Jamie McCourt's reported settlement was about $131 million.
They married in 1979 and divorced in 2011, a marriage of roughly 32 years.
Reports say they had a prenuptial agreement.
Yes, the family is reported to include 4 children.
Reported assets include: Los Angeles Dodgers stake, Boston properties, cash.
The key legal question was the status of the postnuptial agreement, which had stated that the Dodgers belonged to Frank alone. A Los Angeles judge found that there were several versions of the document and ruled that it was not valid, which opened the possibility that the team was community property to be divided equally.