Together since they were high school students in the ’60s, former Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper Gore have announced that they are separating. The announcement came days after their 40th wedding anniversary.

Generally viewed as an affectionate and modern married couple, the announcement seemed to shock the media and the Gores’ friends. The Gores said it was “a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration,” according to an e-mailed statement obtained by the press.

Al Gore, Vice President under President Bill Clinton, infamously lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. He later campaigned for climate change, winning a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

The now-estranged couple are parents to Karenna, 37, Kristin, 33, Sarah, 31 and Albert III, 28. Kristin divorced her husband Paul Cusack last year. Karenna announced this week that she is separating from her husband of 13 years, Drew Schiff. Rough year for the Gores, I guess.

There is no indication yet that the elder Gores will be filing for divorce. If they do, it seems unlikely that there was a prenuptial agreement signed back in 1970 when the couple was fresh out of college and Al Gore was preparing to go to Vietnam. There are, then, 40 years of marital assets to be divided between them.

Al Gore is reportedly worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million – almost all of it made since 2001. Tipper will be entitled to an equitable division of those marital assets, which include homes in Virginia, Tennessee and California. Depending on how much Tipper receives in liquid assets (cash and stock market investments) and income-generating property, she may or may not receive spousal support. There are no custody or child support issues for a court to address as the children are no longer minors.

Library Topics: separation, divorce, prenuptial agreement, division of property, spousal support, custody, child support