Kobe Bryant Divorce

Описание: It has been a tough week for our Laker superstar, Kobe Bryant. First, he loses teammate Lamar Odom to a trade. Then today, his wife of ten and a half years filed for divorce. All this as the Lakers prepare for a brand new season. NBC4's Toni Guinyard is live at LA live tonight with the very latest details. 

This has the potential of being a real nasty divorce. A basketball star, his beautiful wife, big money and lots of rumors about the split. But a top family law attorney told me tonight don't expect the Bryant's to air their dirty laundry in public.

Vanessa divorcing Kobe? It's an announcement that stunned some sports fans.

The journey to divorce court for Kobe and Vanessa Bryant comes ten and a half years after they said I do and eight years after his sexual assault scandal.

Vanessa stayed with the Lakers stand out then, but filed for divorce now siding irreconcilable differences and asking for joint custody of their eight and five-year-old daughters, child support, and spousal support. She also asked that her jewelry be claimed as separate property.

"There is going to be a gigantic amount of money being divided in this case," explains celebrity family law attorney Christopher C. Melcher.

Celebrity lawyer Christopher C. Melcher specializes in complex family law litigation and says the length of the marriage is significant.  "They were married for more than ten years, so she's going to get long term spousal support maybe for the rest of her life," Melcher states.

A statement issued on behalf of the couple said in part that the Bryants have resolved all issues incident to their divorce privately with the assistance of counsel and a judgment dissolving their marital status will be entered in 2012.

"There doesn't appear to be a premarital agreement in this case, so this is going to be very, very expensive. Basically half of what he owns is probably going to be divided, and then there's going to be spousal support (alimony) on top of that for potentially the rest of his life," states top family law attorney Christopher C. Melcher.

When you consider Bryant's salary plus all of his endorsements, we are talking about a lot of money, but it appears both the couple and their attorneys are working to reach a settlement out of court.

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Aired on 12/19/11

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