SHERRI SHEPHERD VICTORIOUS OVER LAMAR SALLY IN CALIFORNIA CHILD SUPPORT COURT
Sherri Shepherd Claims ‘Huge Victory’ amid ‘Frivolous’ Child Support Bid by Ex-Husband Lamar Sally
Sherri Shepherd has shared news of a “huge victory” in the child support case filed against
her by ex-husband Lamar Sally.
A rep for the former The View co-host has confirmed to PEOPLE that a judge denied
Sally’s request for an increase in child support payments for the couple’s son, Lamar Sally, Jr .
Sally’s request was filed in mid-December, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Shepherd and Sally’s 2-year-old — who was conceived using Sally’s sperm and a donor egg,
meaning Shepherd does not have a genetic connection to the boy — was born in August 2014
after the couple broke up and has been raised since then by Sally. In November 2015,
a Pennsylvania court of appeals upheld a lower court’s April decision that Shepherd’s name
would remain on L.J’s birth certificate and that the actress must continue
paying child support. The next month, Sally filed for a modification of child support due
to Shepherd’s increased earnings, according to the court documents.
Now, a rep for Shepherd has said in a statement to PEOPLE: “Shepherd had a huge
victory in the California family court. Sally and his counsel were humiliated as the judge
flat out denied his request and politely asked Sally to be seated in the audience,
away from counsel table so he could properly dispose of the matter.”
“The California judge agreed with Shepherd’s counsel Terry Levich Ross, Esq. and
determined that by Sally’s own agreement in two separate legal judgments,
New Jersey has exclusive and ongoing jurisdiction over this child support issue and
all matters must be dealt with only in that state,” the statement reads.
“The amount of child support Shepherd is currently paying her ex-husband is
more than New Jersey has required her to pay, so if Sally wanted to revisit the
matter in a New Jersey court he would likely face having his payments reduced substantially.”
The statement continued: “Shepherd now hopes that her ex will stop his frivolous attempts
to get more money out of her and will seek gainful employment to take care of his
child like any other capable parent.”
On Tuesday evening, Sally’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, told PEOPLE,
“She’s stating that the amount of child support she’s paying is more than
the state of New Jersey required her to pay. That’s not true, absolutely not true.
Ms. Shepherd’s not paying a penny more than New Jersey required her to pay.
The fact that she believes that New Jersey would substantially reduce these payments,
there’s not a shred of evidence of that being capable of happening because Ms. Shepherd
has not disclosed what her income is, which we believe is significantly higher than
what she declared it was at the time the New Jersey court made the original order in the case.”
Kaplan also denies that Sally was asked to be seated in the audience during the hearing.
“There’s only two chairs available, so I asked Lamar if he could just go sit at one of the
chairs that’s back from counsel table near the gallery wall, and that’s what he did.
The fact that they tried to make something out if it is completely a misstatement is
sad and shameful.”
He later added, “Lamar Sally is a wonderful father. He has 100 percent custodial
care because Ms. Shepherd doesn’t want to spend any time with the child,
and he is responsible for providing all of the needs of the child, subject to
being able to get court orders for Ms. Shepherd to make a contribution
pursuant to the court order. Child support is a right of the child, not of the parents.
Child support belongs to the child, and the child deserves, under California law
as well as New Jersey law, to be supported at a level that the relative and respective
income of each parent makes possible for that child to enjoy the standard of living
that both parents can provide.”
“Mr. Sally is not living off of the child support. The needs that he has and t
he payment for this child are significant, and he wants to make sure that
given the fact that there’s been a change of circumstances, that
Ms. Shepherd not only lives here now, but that she earns significantly
more money than she admitted to before, all he’s asking for is that the
court base it’s new support order based on what the true facts are.
The only one who’s hiding anything here is Ms. Shepherd,” states Kaplan.
source also tells PEOPLE that Shepherd pays Sally —
who has been employed as a substitute teacher for the past two years — $4,100 per month.
Shepherd also addressed the legal victory on social media on Tuesday —
and suggested that Sally was attempting to capitalize on his son’s illness.
Ex continues to say his son has a life threatening blood disorder (G6PD)
it’s actually common amongst black males…my son Jeffrey also has it
— Sherri Shepherd (@SherriEShepherd) January 24, 2017
“For the record … I always offered to financially care for my ex-husband’s son.
What he was demanding was not fair & allowed him to not work,” Shepherd wrote in the first
of three tweets. “My ex-husband says he works part-time 20-30 hours a week.
I work a min of 15-hours a day. I have always had to hustle to take care of mine.”
She continued: “Ex continues to say his son has a life threatening blood disorder (G6PD)
it’s actually common amongst black males…my son Jeffrey also has it.”
He has put them in all of the court papers to make a case for more child support so I am not “airing” anything twitter.com/sadiemom55/sta…
“How many ex husbands does it take to get money from a single mom. Two. #dumb and #dumber #getalife #getajob,” she continued. “Sorry for all ex-husband tweets.
I picked ‘em & accept consequences of bad choices …but never in my
wildest dreams did I think they were.”
“Never a problem helping ex financially w his son …
just wanted a fair decision and not made to pay an amount borne from greed and deception,
” she later tweeted. “I rest my thumbs … time to put this mimosa down and log
off twitter before ex hauls me back in court for making him look like a gold digger.”
Sally, who married Shepherd in Chicago in August 2011, filed for legal separation
on May 2, 2014, according to L.A. Superior Court documents.
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