Celebrity Divorce Blog | MyFamilyLaw » laura wasser

Actress Kate Walsh Finalizes Divorce

K. McKinney — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:08:34 +0000

Private Practice/Grey’s Anatomy actress Kate Walsh has reportedly settled her divorce from husband Alex Young. Walsh and her divorce attorney Laura Wasser hammered out a settlement, finalizing the divorce which lasted as long as the marriage.

The couple married in September 2007 and split in November 2008.

According to court documents, Young was awarded $627,000 for his share of the community property. He originally sought spousal support but was denied. Walsh was awarded the marital home. They split the artwork and furniture as well as the residuals for the “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” episodes Walsh filmed while they were married.

“One-half of the community property furniture and artwork to be divided by alternating picks after the flip of a coin to determine who will pick first,” their settlement agreement reads.

This settlement seems very simple for a divorce that was so publicly bitter and took over a year to resolve. Our guess is that Young thought there was a lot more money available for distribution than actually existed. And when the big picture was finally clear, they couldn’t set aside animosity long enough to even divide the furniture – thus the coin flip decision.

Library Topics: divorce, divorce attorney, settlement, community property, spousal support

Johnny Knoxville's Divorce Finally Settled

K. McKinney — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:13:40 +0000

Jackass star Johnny Knoxville’s wife filed for divorce two years ago. They were officially divorced in March, 2008 in a bifurcated proceeding, reserving all financial matters for resolution at a later date. Just last week, Knoxville (real name: Philip John Clapp) settled with his ex-wife Melanie Clapp, agreeing to pay $6,000 monthly in child support for their 13-year-old daughter, Madison.

The former couple split in July 2006 after 11 years of marriage. According to reports, the financial settlement appears to be a fairly even split of marital property. Melanie was awarded half of their bank accounts and half of Knoxville’s residuals from the Jackass franchise and Dukes of Hazzard film, pursuant to the terms of their agreement.

Knoxville retained his share of several production companies. The parties will share joint custody of Madison.

Knoxville was represented by L.A. celebrity family law attorney Laura Wasser.

Also See:

Johnny Knoxville Gets Divorced

Kelis Seeks Temporary Support from Nas in Divorce Case

K. McKinney — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:52:23 +0000

Singer Kelis, due in July with her first child, filed for divorce about six weeks ago from her husband of almost six years, rapper Nas. Now, she and her divorce attorney Laura Wasser have filed a motion asking the family court to order Nas to pay temporary spousal support, child support, pregnancy-related expenses and half of the baby’s medical expenses pending the resolution of the divorce case.

Kelis also wants Nas to pay about $20,000 for baby gear like strollers, cribs and more. She claims that she has no money and that Nas has not offered to pay anything related to the baby or its impending birth.

Financial statements filed in support of these requests indicate that Kelis made approximately $21,000 per month for the last six months. Her expenses, however, are almost $81,000 a month (she estimates Nas’s monthly expenses at $120,000). Like many recording artists, Kelis makes a substantial amount of her income from concert tours. She has not toured in about a year due to the pregnancy and her attendance at culinary school in 2008.

EOnline.com has a copy of the paperwork filed for temporary support. In it, Kelis and Wasser claim that Nas has failed to provide any information or documentation about his income and expenses despite several requests. They further claim that there have been several requests for Nas to pay some bills related to the marital home in L.A. (one of five marital homes, apparently) as well as bills related to Kelis’s pre-natal care. They allege that those requests have gone unanswered.

The matter is set for hearing on July 21, 2009 – which is also the baby’s due date. Child support cannot be awarded until there is actually a child to be supported. And spousal support can be ordered retroactive to the date of the initial divorce filing.

Nas is represented by L.A. divorce attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan. Kaplan and Wasser know each other well. Kaplan represents Kevin Federline and Wasser represents Britney Spears in their divorce/custody matters.

Also See:

Kelis and Nas Divorcing

Kelis and Nas Divorcing

K. McKinney — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:08:29 +0000

Singer Kelis filed for divorce this week from her rapper husband Nas (né Nasir Jones). Kelis (whose last name is Rogers) is seven months pregnant with the couple’s first child.

The couple met in 2002 and was married in January, 2005 – or so everyone thought. The divorce petition states that the date of marriage was July 28, 2003, a year and a half before the couple’s publicized wedding ceremony. So far, I’ve seen no explanation for the discrepancy but the date of marriage will be extremely important to the distribution of marital assets.

Kelis asks for spousal support, child support and joint custody of the unborn child in her petition. She is represented by divorce lawyer to the stars, Laura Wasser. The recession doesn’t seem to be affecting Wasser’s business much – she is currently representing actress Kate Walsh, Mel Gibson’s wife Robyn Gibson and music producer Jimmy Iovine among others. She previously represented Britney Spears, Johnny Knoxville, Angelina Jolie, Stevie Wonder and Pamela Anderson’s ex Rick Salomon.

It is unlikely that the divorce will be finalized before the birth of the baby (due date is listed in the petition as July 21, 2009) but even if it were, a court could not establish custody or support orders prior to the birth. With substantial assets (no word on a prenup yet), I don’t see this divorce moving extraordinarily quickly anyway.

Kate Walsh Divorce Gets Nasty

K. McKinney — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:33:46 +0000

Why is it that the short marriages so often create the nastiest divorces? Television actress Kate Walsh and her movie exec husband Alex Young were married for just over one year. No kids. Seemingly not much to fight about, right? Wrong.

Looks like Young is not going down without a fight. Married in September, 2007, the couple split in November, 2008. The divorce petition was filed in December. There was one minor clue at the time of the filing that things might take a turn for the worse. Young claimed the date of separation was November 22. Walsh disagreed and indicated that the actual date was “yet to be determined.”

Although often inconsequential, the date of separation could be a pretty big deal depending on the exact date on which large amounts of income were paid.

More recently, the former couple’s accounting firm filed a motion with the divorce court to have Young’s dissolution attorneys restrained from harassing it with further document requests. The firm represented both parties until shortly after the divorce was filed. In its motion, the firm claimed that it turned over all information pertaining to the couple’s finances to Young’s lawyers but objected to the broad language used in the requests. For example, it claimed that certain requests could be read to include documents protected by an attorney-client privilege.

The accountants claim that they gave over 3,000 pages of docs to Young but were subjected to repeated and calculated harassment by the lawyers anyway.

Walsh’s attorney Laura Wasser has now requested that the judge set a trial date. Such a request usually indicates that no headway is being made in meaningful settlement negotiations. Often, a trial date will jump start the process a bit. Young’s attorneys argue that there is no way to try the case very soon without full financial information.

Also See:

Actress Kate Walsh Divorcing After One Year Marriage

Mel Gibson's Wife Files for Divorce

K. McKinney — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Robyn Gibson, wife of actor Mel Gibson, has filed for divorce in Los Angeles after 29 years of marriage. Robyn stood by Mel after his 2006 drunk driving arrest during which he offended the police officers arresting him and most Jewish people around the world. There have also been rumors that Mel has been unfaithful.

The Gibsons have seven children – although only one is still a minor (Thomas, 10 years old). They were married in 1980, after Mel starred in Mad Max but before he skyrocketed to worldwide fame in the early and mid-’80’s. Thus, most of his reported $900 million fortune is bound to be considered community property under California’s divorce laws. As such, Robyn is entitled to half of that sum.

Both TMZ.com and Us Magazine report that there was no prenuptial agreement. Any prenup signed in 1980, though, was unlikely to be upheld anyway, I would guess. In order for a prenup to be valid, it must be viewed as fair to each spouse under the circumstances – and, while Mel generated the income, he didn’t have much at the time of the marriage and Robyn did stick around for almost 30 years, raising seven kids. A judge would not deny her a healthy portion of the marital estate at this point.

Robyn’s divorce petition does not list a definite date of separation, stating “TBD” or “to be determined.” This is important as only assets accrued between the date of marriage and the date of separation are generally considered community property. If rumors that the couple has been separated for almost two and a half years are true, then anything earned by Mel since then would be considered his separate property. (He hasn’t acted much since the DUI arrest but has acted and produced in a few projects.)

She is also seeking spousal support and attorneys’ fees. Her divorce petition asks for joint custody of Thomas, for whom she will also undoubtedly receive child support.

Everyone’s favorite in the ’80s and early ’90s, Mel Gibson has had increasingly problems in the media in recent years. His uber-conservative religious beliefs, his ethnic slurs, his public intoxication and more have caused Hollywood’s former sweetheart to fall from grace (and the spotlight).

Robyn Gibson is being represented by L.A. divorce lawyer-to-the-stars Laura Wasser, who helped save Britney Spears from disaster on several occasions.

UPDATE: Mel Gibson filed his response to Robyn’s divorce petition a few hours after her filing. He set the date of separation at August 26, 2006, about a month after his DUI arrest. And he is represented by Robert Kaufman, who has previous represented Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson, Reese Witherspoon among other celebs.

Music Producer Jimmy Iovine Divorcing

K. McKinney — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:55:35 +0000

Vicki Iovine, wife of music producer Jimmy Iovine, filed for divorce in Los Angeles last week. The couple had been married for 24 years and have four children (two of whom are grown). The dissolution petition cited irreconcilable differences as grounds for the divorce.

Jimmy Iovine is the founder of Interscope Records, current chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records and producer of such acts as U2, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. He is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Vicki Iovine has been writing the popular “Girlfriends’ Guide” books since 1995. Prior to becoming a mother and successful author, Vicki was a Playboy Playmate and a practicing attorney. She seeks attorneys’ fees and spousal support in her divorce petition.

Although the court paperwork cites the generic “irreconcilable differences”, rumors have abounded for quite some time that Jimmy Iovine has been having an extramarital affair with Pussycat Dolls’ singer, Nicole Sherzinger. Looks like this divorce could be quite expensive due to the length of the marriage and the amount of wealth involved.

UPDATE: Looks like Jimmy Iovine is being represented by divorce attorney to the stars, Laura Wasser. Wasser has previously represented Britney Spears, among other celebrities.

Also See:

The Biggest Celebrity Divorce Awards Ever

Patricia Arquette Divorcing

K. McKinney — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:20:30 +0000

Actress Patricia Arquette, star of TV’s Medium, has filed for divorce from husband/actor Thomas Jane. Arquette filed Monday in Los Angeles, waiting until just after the holidays to sound the death knell of this two year marriage.

Arquette and Jane were married in June 2006, three years after the birth of their only child, daughter Harlow. Arquette’s petition for divorce seeks sole legal and physical custody of Harlow with visitation to be granted to Jane. TMZ.com reports that there was no prenuptial agreement – although I haven’t seen anything to confirm this yet.

Arquette is the sister of entertainers Rosanna Arquette, David Arquette and Alexis Arquette. She was briefly married to Nicolas Cage and has a 19 year old son by musician Paul Rossi. Jane has appeared in films such as The Punisher and The Mist. He was recently announced as the star of the upcoming HBO series, Hung. He was previously married but has no other children.

Arquette is represented by renowned Hollywood divorce attorney Laura Wasser. Wasser also represents actress Kate Walsh in her pending divorce from Alex Young. Wasser has previously represented Britney Spears, Johnny Knoxville, Nick Lachey, Angelina Jolie, Kiefer Sutherland and more.

One note: I noticed that gossip blogger Perez Hilton in his post on the Arquette-Jane split called Arquette out for using the “all too common ‘irreconcilable differences’ excuse” in her divorce petition. What Hilton and other gossip reporters fail to understand is that California – like all states – requires legal grounds for a divorce to be stated in a petition for dissolution. Each state has its own list of approved grounds for divorce. In California, there are only two approved grounds for divorce – irreconcilable differences and incurable insanity. So, 99.9% of California-based celeb divorces will reference irreconcilable differences.

Britney Gets Overnight Visits with Kids, Rehires Lawyer

K. McKinney — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:35:08 +0000

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were back in court in Los Angeles this morning, discussing the visitation schedule of their two young sons, Sean and Jayden. Reportedly, Spears was awarded overnight visitation with the boys after the court heard testimony from the court-appointed parenting coach/evaluator. The children had been in the sole custody of Federline since Spears’ psychiatric hospitalization early this year. Spears had very limited, supervised visitation for quite some time following her release from the hospital. That visitation was expanded about six weeks ago to three full days a week, supervised.

Another happening of note in the Spears-Federline saga, super-divorce-lawyer-to-the-stars Laura Wasser has re-entered her appearance in the case on Spears’ behalf. It was Wasser who successfully negotiated the original joint custody agreement during the initial divorce proceeding almost a year ago. As Spears’ strange behavior escalated in the late summer and early fall of 2007, Wasser withdrew from the case.

Reports indicated that she did so because Spears would not listen to her advice. Wasser was followed ever so briefly by attorney Mel Goldsman at Freid and Goldsman. He was followed by lawyers Sorrell Trope and Ann Kiley of Trope and Trope. Most recently, Spears has been represented by Stacy Phillips of Phillips Lerner Lauzon & Jamra. The reappearance of Wasser is seen as an indication that Spears – assisted by her father and conservator Jamie Spears – is generally more stable than in the recent past. It is unlikely that Wasser would have agreed to rejoin the Spears camp if she did not believe that the previous communications problems had been resolved.

Federline has been represented by attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan since the divorce case began.

Pamela Anderson's Third Marriage Annulled

K. McKinney — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:06:09 +0000

Pamela Anderson finally got her annulment on earlier this week. Her five month marriage to Rick Salomon was declared a nullity by a Los Angeles County judge on the basis of fraud. Anderson originally filed for divorce in December, 2007 but withdrew her petition in order to reconcile with Salomon. She re-filed her petition in late February, 2008, this time seeking an annulment. Anderson’s petition claimed fraud as her grounds for annulment. Last week, Salomon filed his own request for annulment on the grounds of fraud. Neither has specifically stated how they were defrauded by the other.

You can read more about annulment in Monica Mazzei’s March 8th post on the Anderson-Salomon case. This week’s judgment does not appear to reference any property division. Presumably, Anderson and Salomon kept their assets separate for the entire two months of their marriage and did not accumulate or earn enough during that time to argue over. Anderson, of course, is an actress and model, famous for the TV series Baywatch and for her Playboy features. She was previously married to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and to music star Kid Rock. Salomon is known for his videotaped bedroom romp with former girlfriend Paris Hilton. He was previously married to actress/singer Elizabeth Daily and to actress Shannen Doherty. He reportedly made millions from the release of his sex tape featuring Hilton. Interestingly, Salomon was represented by attorney Laura Wasser, who represented Johnny Knoxville in his divorce last week.

Johnny Knoxville Gets Divorced

K. McKinney — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:02:15 +0000

Johnny Knoxville of MTV’s Jackass (and the movies of the same name) officially got divorced late last week in Los Angeles. Knoxville, whose real name is Philip John Clapp, originally filed for divorce from his wife of 11 years, Melanie Clapp, last summer. The couple has a 12 year old daughter, Madison. Knoxville and his wife have apparently been separated since July, 2006.

Last week’s divorce judgment was the result of a bifurcation of the case. Bifurcation occurs when the entire divorce case is not decided at the same time. Certain matters can be split from the rest of the case and decided at a later date. In the Knoxville case, Knoxville and his wife were granted a divorce only, meaning each is now legally single. However, all matters relating to custody, visitation, child support, spousal support and property distribution are still pending and will be decided later (in other words, all of the difficult matters are still left). In his initial divorce filing, Knoxville sought joint legal custody and joint physical custody of their daughter. He also acknowledged that he would have to pay spousal support. It is unclear exactly why Knoxville and his wife decided to bifurcate their divorce.

In the states that allow it (some states such as New York, Texas and Michigan do not generally allow bifurcation), a case can be bifurcated in several different ways. Probably the most common bifurcation is to separate the actual divorce or change in marital status from the child-related and economic matters. Two of the most common reasons for this type of bifurcation are to allow one or both spouses to remarry and to allow one or both spouses to take advantage of a single tax filing status. Bifurcation can also be used as a psychological tool – granting the divorce itself can help some spouses move on emotionally and facilitate settlement. Sometimes, it is just used because the financial or custody aspects of the case are so complicated that full investigation and trial of the issues will take many months or even years.

A case could also be bifurcated in situations where the husband and wife agree on custody, visitation and support but not property distribution – or vice versa. The divorce can be granted and visitation ordered and then a trial can be held later to decide on property division and support.

Knoxville is represented by Laura Wasser at Wasser, Cooperman and Carter, a high-profile family law firm in Los Angeles. Laura Wasser and the Wasser firm have represented many Hollywood celebrities in their divorce and custody cases. Most recently. Laura Wasser was one of Britney Spears’ attorneys in her pending custody case. Wasser and Spears parted company last fall.