Source: nydailynews.com

First and foremost, who knew that Dennis Rodman was 51???

But to the matter at hand. The former NBA star known for his colorful hair, multiple piercings, tattoos and sexual exploits, and oh yeah, his killer rebounding skills, was sentenced yesterday after being found guilty of four counts of contempt for failing to come up with his owed child support in 2009 and 2010. Rodman was hit with 104 hours of community service, along with three years of informal probation on the condition that he keep up with both spousal and child support payments to his ex-wife, Michelle Moyer. He has a son named D.J., 11, and a daughter named Trinity, 10, from his relationship with her. The couple married in 2003, but she filed for divorce in 2004. However, they tried to reconcile time and time again, but in the end, she filed for divorce again, and the marriage was put to an end this year.

Though Rodman’s ex-wife says he owes more than $800,000 in back child support, his lawyer, Linnea Willis, disputes the number (she says it’s much less of course) and says that Rodman isn’t and hasn’t been making enough money to pay up. According to the AP, she says the colorful NBA legend is broke, owing thousands in back taxes. On top of that, his troubles with alcohol and more had made it hard for him to get a job or endorsements to bring in more money, hence the struggle to pay spousal and child support payments recently. But now Rodman says that thanks to a few opportunities to play ball overseas (he’s 51 mind you…if you forgot), he’s doing okay, but not making the same dough he used to. “I’m making enough to keep everyone satisfied.” Rodman will have to report back to court on June 22 about more disputes over child support and additional contempt charges. While he is willing to do what’s necessary to do right by his children, Rodman made it clear that he was disappointed that things had to get so messy:

“It’s all about the kids. It does suck the fact that it had to come to this.”

It happens, brother. Just do better.

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Source: Bossip.com

Almost two months ago, “Basketball Wives” star Kenya Bell’s estranged husband Charlie was claiming that his soon-to-be ex-wife was recklessly spending his money to be spiteful. A lot of us were wondering why she still has access to his funds, but now he wants her to know what it feels like to have someone else spend your cash because he claims she’s making more money than he is and he needs some support.

According to Charlie, he’s not bringing in anywhere near as much money as he used to when he was in the NBA. Playing in an overseas league in Italy, he claims his annual salary is only $100,000 and he’s got just over a million in the bank. Kenya on the other hand, he says, makes $300,000 just for being on “Basketball Wives,” not to mention her iTunes music releases, although I doubt that brought in any substantial income. Still, his point is once this divorce is final, if ever, she ought to be the one paying him spousal support since she earns more.

Kenya’s obviously not hearing it. She says she doesn’t earn that much for being on the VH1 show and she still plans to go after whatever is in Charlie’s savings. This is the same woman who attacked him with a box cutter last year so I’m not surprised.

Do you think Kenya should pay Charlie spousal support now?

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Source: NWSO

Every time I read a story about some celebrity woman taking her husband all the way to the bank and back with alimony on top of child support, I can’t help but stop and ask, what are you being paid for exactly? I fully understand the history of  spousal support. Throughout the centuries of stay-at-home mothers and housewives, women would have essentially been in the poor house if they didn’t receive financial assistance from their ex-husbands due to societal beliefs about a woman’s place being in the home. But newsflash: it’s not 1950 anymore, and for that reason I find spousal support a difficult financial obligation to justify in this day and age.

Alimony, of course, is no longer just a price men pay for being the breadwinners in a relationship that’s gone south. In the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against gender bias in alimony awards and a small increase in the number of men seeking such payment was seen. Although there is still some stigma associated with the idea of a women supporting her ex-husband, as we see with men like Gabriel Aubry who wasn’t even married to Halle Berry, some guys have no problem with a woman fronting their lifestyle. We’ve known for years most ex-wives of successful men take absolutely no issue with making a man pay for her needs long after they’re out of the picture.

The idea of making someone pay is what alimony has been reduced to in a lot of ways. Outside of “no-fault” states, sort of the understood obligation of having to pay alimony is that you are the one who caused the breakdown of the relationship, now it’s going to literally cost you, quite possibly for the rest of your life. While the rules vary from state to state, in a lot of cases, being married for 10 years entitles you to permanent alimony until the day the payor dies. That’s a big price to pay for failing in a relationship. If the woman was the one who did wrong, oftentimes her right to claim alimony is seen as fore-fitted. I know most laws are based on simple moral standings but the reasons a couple decides to end their marriage and establishing right and wrong in a divorce isn’t exactly as cut and dry as murder, for example. It seems a little odd the law can penalize someone for perhaps not making the best choices in their relationship, even if they don’t necessarily impact the overall social order.

The other part of spousal support is the idea that the dependent spouse should be able to maintain the lifestyle he or she became accustomed to during the marriage after it ends—at the cost of the financially stable spouse. My question is why? Divorce isn’t one of those things that happens over night. In the time that both parties are giving depositions and going through the course of litigation, ideally there is plenty of time to, I don’t know, find a job. It’s not as though someone can spring divorce papers on you tonight, and you’ll be out on the street tomorrow. And as far as maintaining a certain standard of living goes, I feel that’s one of the perks of being a dependent spouse that goes out the window sort of like having someone to cuddle up next to at night. Sure, it was nice to enjoy fine dining seven nights a week and have a maid and a housekeeper while you were married, but if you can’t afford those things after you part ways, I would hardly consider that the end of the world. It’s no wonder tons of marriages end up to be nothing but financial contracts in many situations, look at the way divorce is handled.

The state of today’s economy is one factor that makes me think spousal support may still serve a purpose. With so many people struggling to find jobs, it would be unfortunate to be a stay-at-home spouse and find yourself suddenly divorced and unable to find employment. However whatever assistance is provided should be temporary. Rehabilitative alimony, as they call it, which is support given to a lesser-earning spouse for a period of time necessary to acquire work outside the home and become self-sufficient, should be the standard in spousal support cases, not the exception. In life there are some mistakes that you have to pay for forever, but I don’t think a failed marriage is one of them, especially when there is likely no one thing that can be pinpointed as the ultimate cause of the breakup. More than that, there is simply no excuse for any able-bodied person not to work and support themselves like any other single American has to do. If you want to live a certain lifestyle you need to go out and make it happen not wait for the check from someone else’s hard-earned living to roll in.

What do you think? Is spousal support still necessary in this day and age?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Eurweb

If the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, the easiest way to piss him off is through his wallet. That appears to be the game plan for “Basketball Wives’” Kenya Bell, according to her soon-to-be ex-husband, Charlie Bell.

These two have been in a long divorce battle with Kenya pulling a Pilar Sanders/Tawanna Iverson move—claiming Charlie is living lavish while she struggles to care for their children. Charlie fired back with his own court documents though, saying if Kenya’s worried about feeding the kids she should stop spending money recklessly on things like:

• A Corvette, which she purchased for $82,000, drove for three weeks, then resold for $61,000
• A $12,000 motorcycle
• Criminal attorneys–$20,000
• Her brother’s electric bill which came up to $3,000 (um, does he ever turn off the lights?)
• $9,000 worth of luggage and shoes
• Plastic Surgery, which he said cost a whopping $110,000

Charlie says Kenya racked up another $150,000 in “miscellaneous expenses to get even with Mr. Bell,” I’m thinking some of that went toward her “budding” music career. The pro baller who’s currently playing overseas in Italy also says he gave Kenya $200,000 before he even left for Europe so her request that the court make him set aside a large chunk of his money for support should be denied.

I really wonder what some of these women would do if they had to raise kids on modest budgets like most Americans do. Kenya might want to pay more attention to a potential custody battle with her ex rather than a financial one. Considering she was arrested in May 2011 for breaking into the couple’s home and attacking Charlie with a box cutter in front of their two children, I can see him snatching those kids out from under her.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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