Atlanta Housewife Not Happy With Settlement
Sheree Whitfield, the newest divorcee on the Bravo show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, was very coy on the air about what type of settlement she expected to receive from her former football star husband Bob Whitfield. However, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting Sheree Whitfield received a settlement last year that she is not happy with. She is now appealing her case to the Georgia Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear the case next week.
The parties married in 2000, separated in 2003, and got divorced in 2007. The couple have two children. According to the AJC, the trial court awarded Sheree custody of the children and $2,142.87 a month in child support. It also awarded her a division of the marital property totaling more than $1.1 million, including a lump sum payment of $775,000, and half of the marital portion of three NFL retirement plans. But the court did not award her alimony.
The court awarded Bob Whitfield nearly all the real estate, including four homes, and the recording studio, Patchwerks, which he founded. Sheree Whitfield’s lawyers moved for a new trial over the denial of alimony. The lower court denied the motion, and she is now appealing to the Supreme Court.
Her attorneys argue that based on her lack of education and inability to earn income, the court abused its discretion by not awarding alimony and awarding the $2.6 million Sandy Springs home Sheree lives in to Bob. Sheree claims she cannot afford to buy a house in the neighborhood her children were raised in, and the court wrongly denied her alimony. Sounds like Nene won’t be the only homeless housewife in Atlanta.
The problem for Sheree is that although her relationship with Bob Whitfield may have spanned fourteen years, her marriage to him did not. The parties separated after a relatively brief three years. The length of the marriage is a major component in the decision to award alimony. In addition, Sheree received a sizeable property settlement, which she should be able to live off of for quite a while. Also not helpful for Sheree is her appearance on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Not only does she receive income from that endeavor, but on the show she touts her business acumen and the clothing line she is starting, negating her attorney’s attempt to argue that she is uneducated and unable to support herself.