Sherri Shepherd Serious About Not Paying Child Support
The battle between former 'The View' star Sherri Shepherd and ex-husband Lamar Sally over their child Lamar Jr., has been as acrimonious as it has been public. Shepherd first tried, without success, to disavow any legal responsibility for the boy, who was born via surrogate using a donor egg and Sally's sperm. She was also unsuccessful in her attempts to skirt paying child support.
Now, Shepherd is fighting tooth and nail against Sally's request for an increase in those child support payments, saying the California court in which the request for modification was filed lacks jurisdiction over the case.
Childish Games
First, some background information on the case. Shepherd and Sally initially attempted in vitro fertilization using the former television star's eggs, but were unsuccessful. They then paid a surrogate mother $30,000 to carry a child created using Sally's sperm and a donor egg, but both filed for divorce when the surrogate was just seven months pregnant.
Shepherd tried to disavow the child and scuttle the surrogacy at that point, but a court ruled that she was legally the mother and also liable for $4,100 per month in child support payments to Sally. Shepherd, who has reportedly never seen the child since his birth, appealed the ruling but was rebuffed again, with a Pennsylvania court refusing to assert jurisdiction over the claim.
Adult Responsibility
Sally went back to court to request an increase in child support after Lamar Jr. was diagnosed with a hereditary disease known as G6PD, claiming red blood cell abnormality made his care more expensive. According to Radar, Shepherd slammed Sally's request, made in California courts, and argued that the court, like the previous one in Pennsylvania, lacks jurisdiction to rule in the case.
While states must honor and enforce other states' child support orders, and support orders can be modified as circumstances change, whether the court will grant Sally's request remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that this fight is showing no signs of fading.
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