I think he does make the point that divorce does more than transfer capital from the unlucky couple to lawyers. There's also a value transfer from the unlucky c

I think he does make the point that divorce does more than transfer capital from the unlucky couple to lawyers. There's also a value transfer from the unlucky couple to the person who provides liquidity by buying the couple's business for cheap. Using his example, the value of the couple pre-divorce was (roughly): (A) $1,000,000 in value for his share of his business, plus (B) $55,000 in cash. That's $1,055,000 in value, or $527,500 for each partner. After the divorce, the value of the couple is: (A) $250,000 in value for his share of the business (because of a quick sale of an illiquid business), plus (B) $0 in cash ($55k in cash to lawyers). That's a total of $250k, or $125k for each partner. The majority of the value transfer, then, goes to the buyer of the couple's illiquid business, which must be sold too-quickly. Or, to take a more charitable view of the buyer, the fall in value may be from the value destruction from one of the partners suddenly exiting the business.