Los Angeles divorce attorney Chris Melcher was reportedly fired from the legal team of rapper/producer Kanye West on the eve of his divorce hearing.
Today’s hearing is scheduled to determine if West’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, will be granted her request to be declared legally single.
According to TMZ, Melcher and West had a strained relationship with little communication. Attorney Samantha Spector will now lead the legal team. She is West’s fourth lawyer in the divorce case.
Spector represented Nicole Young in her divorce from producer Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, who was represented by Laura Wasser. Wasser currently represents Kardashian — pitting the two lawyers against each other again in another high-profile case.
TMZ has projected that Kardashian’s petition will be granted, making her legally single, which would terminate her marital status while the couple settles the more complicated matters of child custody agreements and the division of marital property, according to Insider.
The couple has four children: North, 8; Saint, 6; Chicago, 4; and Psalm, 2.
In filing the petition in December, Kardashian claimed “irreconcilable differences have led to the irremediable breakdown of the marriage, and there is no possibility of saving the marriage through counseling or other means,” per Rolling Stone.
She added in the court document: “Irreconcilable differences have existed and continue to exist between Respondent and me, which have caused our marriage to irretrievably break down. No counseling or reconciliation effort will be of any value at this time. There will be no prejudice to Respondent if our marriage is immediately dissolved, especially given the fact that throughout our marriage, we adhered to the terms of our premarital agreement and maintained the separate property character of our assets.”
According to People, West and his attorneys have argued that declaring Kardashian legally single could create “adverse consequences” and that “an early termination of status also creates barriers to obtaining evidence” if one of them “remarries before the case is concluded.”
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