Atkinson & Kelsey Law Firm Blog

Support payments forces comedian to go on tour

Successful comedian John Cleese suggested in a recent interview that ‘The Alimony Tour” was aptly named. New Mexico residents may have heard that, according to Mr. Cleese, he started the tour to keep up with spousal support payments to his former wife, a psychotherapist he had been married to for 16 years. The psychotherapist was his third wife, and the couple did not have any children together.

The 74-year-old recently sat with the Sunday Morning Herald to discuss his experience, which started when the couple divorce occurred in 2008. According to Mr. Cleese, the total alimony payments he will eventually make to his wife total between $23 and $24 million paid out over a period of seven years.

According to the couple’s divorce settlement, which was agreed upon in 2009, Mr. Cleese is required to pay his ex-wife roughly $13 million in cash and assets, plus another $1 million per year in Spousal support until 2016. Even after selling real estate to cover a part of the payments, he was still forced to work additional hours to handle the legal obligation.

In New Mexico, spousal support payments can be affected by a number of factors. These include the length of the marriage, if children who require support are involved and the age and health of both spouses. Because there a number of complications that may arise during support negotiations, individuals involved in divorce proceedings may benefit from working with family law lawyers. Those lawyers may be able to help their clients provide the information necessary for an equitable agreement and might represent those clients during negotiations.

Source: The Huffington Post, “John Cleese’s Alimony Payments Are No Laughing Matter“, January 31, 2014