With all the excitement about the royal baby, it is possible that Lake County basketball fans missed the most recent developments in the divorce, custody and property division battle between Dwyane Wade and his ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches-Wade. According to Wade’s attorney, the couple has reached a settlement. According to Funches-Wade, the NBA All-star has left her homeless and destitute.
The former couple were in court in Chicago most of last week. At one point, Funches-Wade made headlines by sitting on a mat outside the Daley Center and proclaiming, via a hand-written sign, that Wade was leaving her on the streets. She also made headlines when the judge arrested her for contempt; she was late to court.
Funches-Wade, her ex-husband says, “has issues.” Among the symptoms, the media reports, is the fact that she has hired and fired a dozen attorneys since Wade filed for divorce in 2007. Her claims of poverty run counter to what Wade’s attorney says his client has been paying. She receives $25,000 every month, and Wade foots the bills for her cars, insurance, mortgage, taxes and attorney fees.
What Funches-Wade does not have is custody of the couple’s two children. They are with Wade, who was granted full physical and legal custody in 2011. The courts have yet to rule on a visitation plan for the children and their mother.
Nevertheless, Wade and his ex-wife have reached an agreement. Wade will provide a “generous settlement” to Funches-Wade, his attorney said, declining to give an exact dollar figure.
Funches-Wade maintained during her protest that the offer was well below what she was actually owed. She said the agreement was the doing of her attorney and Wade’s representative, that her attorney had not consulted her and had not waited for her approval before inking the deal.
Finally, she claimed that her attorney had gone behind her back and dropped the lawsuit she had filed over Wade’s endorsement income (we wrote about the lawsuit in our July 12, 2013, post). During the hearings last week, Funches-Wade had tried to fire her attorney; the attorney had requested to leave the case earlier this month. Neither, it seems, got their wish.
Sources: ABC 7 News/WLS TV Chicago, “Dwyane Wade divorce saga ends; Financial settlement reached with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches,” Associated Press, July 22, 2013
Chicago Sun Times, “Wade’s ex-wife protests outside Daley Center,” Maudlyne Ihejirika, July 19, 2013
