Guma Aguiar. Photo: Eli Segal.

The disappearance of Guma Aguiar, who made a fortune in the energy markets, has brought a dispute over his $100 million estate into the public eye as his wife and his mother fight over assets.

Richard Barron, an attorney for Ellen Aguiar, who is Guma’s mother, says that just before the Brazilian born magnate disappeared, his wife informed him she wanted a divorce.

“An hour before he got on his boat, the wife told Guma she wanted a divorce,” Baron told ABC News.

According to documents filed by Guma’s mother, the millionaire’s wife, Jamie, has fired the chief financial officer at her husband’s company following the disappearance, and has informed employees at an Israeli sports team which Guma owns, that they will no longer be paid.

Aguiar’s boat, the T.T. Zion washed ashore in Ft. Lauderdale last week, with the engine still running, but Aguiar was no where to be found.  Barron says the alleged request for a divorce may have led to Aguiar’s disappearance.

“I’m of the belief that that’s what pushed him over the deep end. He loved his wife. He did not want a divorce,” he said.

Ellen Aguiar is holding out hope that her son is alive, stating that he “may be in a delusional state or be suffering from psychosis or otherwise may have disappeared.”

Court documents filed in May of 2012 state that Aguiar transferred guardianship of his assets “in the event of my incapacity” from his wife to his mother.