What’s that sayin? Oh yea. It’s cheaper to keep her! That applies to this situation 110%!! It’s great to see that they worked things out, but if Kobe & Vanessa hadn’t figured it out — Kobe’s financial situation would have changed drastically!
The good folks at Larry Brown Sports along with attorney Andrew J. Botros worked out Kobe’s finances along with LA divorce laws and came up with an estimate of what Kobe would have had to pay Vanessa if they had got a divorce.
Oh.My.Gawd! Check out the report after the jump…
According to LBS:
Kobe Bryant may have been facing $1.36 million in monthly spousal and child support payments if divorce went through! Here’s part of the breakdown:
As Kobe and Vanessa did not sign a prenuptial agreement, Kobe would also have to pay spousal support to Vanessa. In California, the higher-earning spouse can be expected to support the lower-earning spouse for half the length of the marriage in many cases. However, once a marriage hits 10 years, it’s a totally different ball game. A 10-year marriage is considered a long-term marriage and a California judge can award spousal support indefinitely. Vanessa and Kobe crossed that 10-year threshold a few months before Vanessa initiated divorce proceedings, meaning Kobe might have had to pay spousal support for the rest of Vanessa’s life (ouch).
So what are we looking at in terms of child and spousal support?
According to Forbes, Kobe’s annual income is somewhere in the neighborhood of $53.2 million dollars. Assuming that he has 50/50 custody of his two daughters, Kobe would have to pay somewhere near $365,000 in child support under the California Guideline. He also would probably have to pay somewhere around $1,000,000 in spousal support.
These are not annual figures. These are monthly estimates.
Also, Kobe would qualify as an extraordinarily high-income earner under California law, which means that he could argue that his two daughters don’t need $365,000 per month because … what kids need $365,000 per month?
