After splitting back in April, Melissa Etheridge and her wife, the former Tammy Lynn Michaels, are making it official. Etheridge filed to dissolve the couple’s domestic partnership in California earlier this month. The filing apparently surprised Tammy, who took to her blog and expressed anger at being blind-sided by the singer.

Tammy’s lawyer Steven Knowles now says that Etheridge has not been providing any financial support to Tammy or their two children since they split this spring. Knowles says Tammy has a grand total of $4 to her name. Tammy was a working actress when the couple got together in 2001 but hasn’t worked regularly since giving birth to twins in 2006.

This week, Tammy filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. According to Knowles, even though Tammy and Melissa were not legally married in California, “They were married in their own eyes and in the eyes of the world … and Melissa was the first to say they were, in fact, married.” (Same-sex marriage was legal in California for about six months in 2008.)

TMZ says that Tammy’s petition requests the award of spousal support and asserts that she can’t get spousal support if she is not “married.” While technically true, this is pretty misleading. California law does allow splitting domestic partners to receive “partner support” upon dissolution of a domestic partnership. (Etheridge’s petition does ask that Tammy be denied any award of partner support.)

Etheridge asked for joint legal and physical custody of the kids but Tammy is asking for full legal and physical custody. Knowles says Melissa can’t possibly be a participant in the custody agreement because her schedule makes it impossible to be a meaningful parent.

Melissa’s lawyer, Neal Hersh, commented that “Melissa is paying all of Tammy’s expenses, which totals tens of thousands of dollars per month.” (My guess is that Etheridge is paying household bills – mortgage, utilities, etc. – but that Tammy has no access to cash for daily expenses like food and gas. Not sure whether she has access to joint credit cards or if she had any individual assets remaining in her name since the 2003 commitment.)

Hersh has previously represented Kim Basinger, Brad Pitt, Pamela Anderson, Eddie Cibrian, Halle Berry and other celebs in their divorces. He recently filed a divorce petition on behalf of Kelsey Grammer’s wife, Camille Grammer.

Knowles was a partner at Trope & Trope for 25 years before starting his own firm. While at Trope & Trope, Knowles worked with Nicole Kidman and Britney Spears.

Library Topics: domestic partnership, petition for dissolution, same-sex marriage, same-sex divorce, spousal support, legal custody, physical custody, custody agreement

See Also:

• Melissa Etheridge, Tammy Etheridge Split