Nas and Kelis, Round 2
Just when Nas thought the dust was settling on his ongoing court battle with Kelis, he's been ordered to pay out more money.
In the summer, rapper Nas was ordered to pay a hefty monthly payment of $44,000.00 to his estranged wife Kelis for child and spousal support, in the midst of their divorce. Now that a financial settlement has been reached in the divorce, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cunningham III ordered the rapper (real name: Nasir Jones) to bump up his monthly child and spousal payments to $51,101. This totals more than $600,000 a year to his soon-to-be ex-wife Kelis and their infant son, Knight.
The decision came after a two-day hearing in which the judge determined that Nas made enough money in recent months to pay additional support. Though, both Nas and Kelis tried to portray themselves as broke.
Nas' attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, said the judge made the right decision and that despite the payment increase Nas came out ahead in the decision because he will no longer have to pay the expenses on the former couple's Los Angeles residence.
Kelis also reportedly testified that she has been having difficulty earning money because she is a new mother and doesn't have a lot of job options outside of the music business. She told the court that Nas is slated to release two albums in 2010.
Kelis is back in the studio working on her next album. Apparently she received $175,000 for her recently announced recording contract with Interscope, although her attorney argued most of the money went to her former managers and she received only about $50,000.
Nas testified that he wanted overnight visitation rights with his son. Kelis has sole custody for now. When Kelis' very pregnant lawyer, Laura Wasser, had Nas take the stand, she grilled him about not paying his December child and spousal support in full. Nas thought he was paid up.
The judge has ordered that Nas pay $40,454 in spousal support and $10,647 in child support. If that weren't enough, Nas must also pay Kelis' lawyer fees, which total $46,022.
This should be incentive for Nas to stay up on his payments from this day forward. Nas also owes his current manager up to $700,000 and owes millions to the Internal Revenue Service, according to testimony.
Both Kelis and her attorney should be thrilled with this ruling.