COUPLESTom Girardi Rejects Paying RHOBH's Erika Jayne Spousal Support In Divorce Case
It's only been one month since Tom Girardi and Erika Jayne split, and the divorce proceedings are already getting messy!
PEOPLE obtained court documents filed on November 25, which were a response to Jayne’s request to dissolve the marriage. Girardi asked that the court terminate the ability to award spousal support to his ex and that his attorney fees and costs be covered by her.
The reason for their split is cited as "irreconcilable differences," but the date of separation is listed as "to be determined."
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Jayne initially filed for divorce on November 3. "After much consideration, I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi. This is not a step taken lightly or easily. I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together. It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserve. I request others give us that privacy as well," the blonde beauty said on the same day.
In 2017, she predicted that if the couple was to go their separate ways, it would all be in Girardi’s favor, which seems to be the case right now. "But let me tell you something, let me be very clear. I'm married to a very powerful lawyer," she said on Andy Cohen’s Then & Now.
"A prenup wouldn't stand in his way anyway. So it doesn't matter whether you had one or you didn't, it's going to be all Tom's way, I assure you. He'll rip that piece of paper to shreds in two seconds!" Jayne said while confirming she didn’t get a prenup before they tied the knot.
After 21 years of marriage, the split came as a shock. Jayne met Girardi while she was a waitress at a West Hollywood restaurant and later slipped the attorney her number. Within six months of dating, Girardi popped the question, and the pair said "I do" in 1999.
Although Girardi rarely made an appearance on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Jayne regularly defended her marriage. "It was always a bigger deal to everyone else than it was to either of us," she wrote in her memoir, Pretty Mess. "All a couple really needs is to have the same life philosophy. If you see things the same way, then age, race, religion — none of that comes into play."
However, the divorce is not the only legal proceeding the duo has to worry about right now. Earlier this month, they were sued for allegedly using their breakup to embezzle money, according to a complaint filed by Edelson PC on behalf of families who lost loved ones in a plane crash.
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The documents alleged that Jayne and Girardi embezzled settlement funds, which were designated to help families of victims from the Lion Air Flight 610. Instead, the money was used "in order to continue funding his and Erika’s lavish Beverly Hills lifestyles," the documents stated.
The documents, which were obtained by Us Weekly, allegedly state that the former flames "are on the verge of financial collapse and locked in a downward spiral of mounting debts and dwindling funds," and the split is really "a sham attempt to fraudulently protect" their assets from debt collectors.
