Hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre was ordered Tuesday to pay half a million dollars to his estranged wife Nicole’s divorce lawyers – but that’s only 10 per cent of the whopping $5million she was demanding.
Nicole Young, 51, had asked Los Angeles Judge Michael Powell to force her wealthy, soon-to-be-ex husband to pay her $2 million per month in spousal support, plus $5 million for her attorney fees.
But at a hearing in downtown LA Tuesday, LA Superior Court Judge Powell ordered 56 year-old Dre to pay her lawyers just $500,000 within 10 days. The judge tabled the support issue till another hearing on July 8.
‘Pending the next hearing dates on this matter, the Court grants only $500,000 in attorney’s fees to petitioner’s (Nicole’s) counsel…..’ the judge said in a written ruling. ‘Fees are to be paid to petitioner’s counsel, no later than May 7….’
In a hearing in downtown LA Tuesday, LA Superior Court Judge Powell ordered 56-year-old Dre to pay her lawyers just $500,000 within 10 days
Tuesday’s hearing was also an introduction to the court of Dr. Dre’s new attorney, Joe Mannis, who was hired by the music tycoon to replace renowned Hollywood celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser.
Last week, Judge Powell kicked Wasser – and Dre’s personal lawyer Howard King – off his legal team over a conflict of interest….King had represented both Dre and Nicole during their marriage and Wasser was ‘vicariously disqualified’ because she was working with King.
Beverly Hills-based Mannis is also considered a heavyweight among Hollywood divorce attorneys. With his partner, Neal Hersh, his celebrity clients have included Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and Tim Burton.
Dr. Dre – real name Andre Young – is reportedly worth close to $1 billion and his split with Nicole has been growing more and more hostile since she filed for divorce last June.
DailyMail.com revealed that Nicole filed court documents accusing Dre of violent and emotional abuse during their 24-year marriage.
He held a gun to her head, punched her in the face and slammed her against a wall, lifting her off her feet by her neck, she declared.
Shortly after her scathing declaration to the court, Nicole’s lawyers huddled with Dr. Dre’s lawyers and the end result was that Dre – reportedly still in his hospital bed after suffering a brain aneurysm – signed an agreement to pay Nicole a lump sum of $2 million in temporary support.
Dre had been paying Nicole $293,000 a month in support.
But she is asking the court to order him to pay her almost $2 million a month, plus the $5 million in fees to her attorneys – Samantha Spector and Lisa Meyer – that the judge ruled on Tuesday.
Nicole – who claimed in legal documents that Dre has more than $260 million on hand in cash and Apple stocks – contends that she has a right to continue the lavish lifestyle she had as Mrs. Andre Young – which she said cost around $2.3 million per month.
Nicole has accused Dre of ‘rampant and repeated marital misconduct’ and she has filed legal documents wanting to know if he had fathered a child outside their marriage.
She also named three of his alleged mistresses – singer Jillian Speer, model turned skin care entrepreneur Kili Anderson and Crystal Rogers, aka Crystal Sierra, known as the ‘Queen of Latin hip-hop’ – and earlier this month a judge ordered all three to testify in the Dre divorce case.
The biggest issue of dispute in this bitter divorce has been the pre-marital agreement (PMA) the couple signed just before they married in Maui, Hawaii on May 25 1996
Nicole, claims she was ‘coerced’ into signing the PMA and after their marriage, Dre tore it up in a romantic gesture of love for her. He insists he didn’t force her to sign the PMA, he never destroyed it and it was never changed.
Dre is asking the divorce court to determine whether the PMA is valid and enforceable.
Source: Daily Mail
