R&B star Usher filed for divorce on Friday in Atlanta, Georgia. The singer and his wife Tameka Foster Raymond lived in Atlanta with their two sons, Usher Raymond V and Naviyd. Both boys are under two – the older boy born a few months after the couple married; the younger boy born just this past December.

The former couple was married in August 2007 in Atlanta but rumors indicated that they had been living apart for the last several months. Usher has been temporarily living in Las Vegas, working on an album.

Earlier this year, Foster suffered cardiac arrest during a cosmetic surgery procedure in Brazil. Usher canceled a Grammy party performance to fly to Brazil. Reports indicate that, prior to the emergency, Usher did not even know his wife was in Brazil for surgery.

Foster was originally Usher’s stylist. They announced their engagement in March 2007. Usher then called off the first, lavishly-planned wedding in New York, only to marry Tameka later in Georgia. Rumors indicated that the original wedding was canceled because Usher’ mother/manager disapproved.

Foster has three sons from previous relationships. The existence of a prenuptial agreement is unknown at this time – but I would be quite surprised if there was no prenup, especially if the reports of Usher’s mother’s disapproval are accurate. Even without a prenup, Usher’s pay-out would probably be relatively limited due to the short term of the marriage.

The marital assets (the assets acquired by the couple during their marriage, i.e., the last 21 months) are the only assets to which Foster would have any legal claim unless Usher titled previously-held assets as jointly held. She will be awarded child support, assuming that she gets joint or sole physical custody of the children.

She may or may not receive alimony. This may be covered in a prenuptial agreement. If not, or if there is no agreement, Georgia courts look at several factors in determining whether or not to award alimony. The factors include: (1) the standard of living during the marriage, (2) the duration of the marriage, (3) the age, physical condition, and emotional condition of the parties, (4) the financial resources of each party, (5) the time necessary to obtain gainful employment, (6) each party’s contribution to the marriage, (7) the financial condition of the parties and (8) any other relevant factor.

Foster has positive and negative factors in her case for alimony. Clearly, there was a high standard of living during the marriage. But the marriage didn’t even last two years and Foster was gainfully employed immediately prior to the wedding. She is capable of supporting herself again.

Don’t get me wrong – Foster will likely come out of this brief marriage with a relatively large amount of money especially after a child support award is made. She just won’t be quite as financially flush as she was when she was married.