Another one bites the dust. Kanye West has fired a third divorce lawyer amid his split from Kim Kardashian, Us Weekly confirms.
Attorney Christopher Charles Melcher confirms to Us he’s no longer representing the “Stronger” rapper, 44. The news broke on Tuesday, March 1, just one day ahead of West’s next court date.
“I wish Ye the best and hope Ms. Spector can resolve the case quickly,” Melcher said in a statement to Us.
West’s new lawyer will be Samantha Spector, TMZ reports. The attorney worked for Nicole Young in her divorce from Dr. Dre, which was finalized late last year. The Super Bowl halftime show performer was represented by Laura Wasser, who now happens to be representing Kardashian, 41.
The KKW Beauty founder, who filed for divorce in February 2021 after nearly seven years of marriage, previously noted that her ex had switched legal representation many times in the year since their split was announced.
“Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all,” she wrote via Instagram last month amid a slew of since-deleted Instagram posts from West that touched on everything from their parenting differences to his disapproval of Kardashian’s boyfriend, Pete Davidson.
“From the beginning I have wanted nothing but a healthy and supportive co-parenting relationship because it is what is best for our children and it saddens me that Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way,” the Selfish author continued. “It saddens me that Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way. I wish to handle all matters regarding our children privately and hopefully he can finally respond to the third attorney he has had in the last year to resolve any issues amicably.”
The exes share children North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 2.
West hired this fourth legal team of the split just ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, where Kardashian’s petition to be declared legally single will be evaluated. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum submitted the request in December 2021, but West objected in February.
According to court docs obtained by Us, he had three stipulations that would need to be met before supporting Kardashian’s single status.
West demanded that Kardashian “will not transfer assets out of any trust” that they created together. He also wanted her to waive “marital privileges” until a custody decision was final, which would allow all communication between them to go into court records. Additionally, his lawyer argued for the “right of reimbursement” to remain intact in the event that either party dies before a final property judgment is made.
Kardashian didn’t agree to his demands. In a follow-up filing on February 24, she explained that she hopes “terminating our marital status” will help her spouse “accept that our marital relationship is over.”
She “very much desire[s] to be divorced,” she stated in the docs obtained by Us, explaining, “I have asked Kanye to keep our divorce private, but he has not done so. Kanye has been putting a lot of misinformation regarding our private family matters and coparenting on social media which has created emotional distress.”
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The paperwork notes that Kardashian seeks “relief” from West’s “bitterness and unhappiness,” suggesting that the Yeezy designer’s “opposition to Ms. Kardashian’s request to be restored to the status of a single person has little, if anything, to do with the propriety or sufficiency of the approved conditions and everything to do with the fact that he does not want their marriage to end.”
Kardashian’s attorney also claims that one of West’s goals is “to prevent or make it difficult for Ms. Kardashian to remarry” in the future, calling his request for her to “waive all marital privileges should she remarry” unprecedented.
West’s then-lawyer responded by saying the reality TV star’s comments were “double hearsay” and needed to be stricken from the record. Kardashian will have to submit West’s social media posts as official evidence if she wants her comments about “misinformation” to stay on the record. She’ll also have to prove they were written by her estranged husband.
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