SERENA Williams’ ex-stripper stepmom has been ditched by her divorce lawyer and hit with a lien for unpaid fees as she desperately clings onto her marriage to “King Richard” and the tennis ace’s childhood home....For More CONTINUE THE FULL READING▶▶
Former nightclub dancer Lakeisha Williams, 45, has been ditched by the attorney representing her in the seven-year divorce war with tennis coach Richard Williams, 81.
Serena’s dad alleges Lakeisha faked his signature on title deeds to transfer his home into her name
This is the Palm Beach home where Serena grew up
Richard filed for divorce in 2017 after learning that his wife had allegedly faked his signature on the title deeds, transferred his Palm Beach house into her name, and taken out a $279,000 mortgage with lender David Simon, which she blew on a disastrous trucking business.
Frail Richard, who’s had two strokes and suffers from dementia, and his son Chavoita Lesane, learned that she’d allegedly been selling his vehicles behind his back and cashing his social security checks.
Lakeisha claimed in court docs that it was because Richard had left her and their son Dylan, 12, starving.
Only by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy for a third time has it stopped the four-bed mansion from going into foreclosure, as Simon has sued her for the return of his loan, which once stood at over $620,000 including interest and attorney fees.
To complicate matters even further, her divorce lawyer – whose surname is Lawrence but whose first name is unknown – has now filed a motion to withdraw and a motion for an attorney’s charging lien.
This happens when a client doesn’t pay their fees and so an attorney acquires an interest in the court’s judgment to reclaim the money they’re owed.
This could mean that Lakeisha’s legal fees are paid out of anything she gets from the divorce settlement.
Lawrence isn’t the first to dump Lakeisha, as her original attorney in the case against Simon, Richard Wolfe, withdrew citing “irreconcilable differences.”
In his motion to withdraw from June 2021, he said that “it is inappropriate for the undersigned to continue to represent the defendant.”
It appears to have taken Lakeisha over a year to find a replacement and, in the meantime, she resorted to filing her own documents, pleading in a handwritten note to the judge to stop the foreclosure of Richard’s former home where tennis star Serena grew up.
In August 2022, Craig Sackler announced to the court he was Lakeisha’s new lawyer
Wolfe, who specializes in entertainment law, and divorce expert attorney Sandy Becher also represented Lakeisha in her divorce case before Lawrence.
But they lasted only a year before they asked to withdraw for an unknown reason in April 2018.
Including the bankruptcy specialist lawyers that Lakeisha has hired – Elias Dsouza and Megan Widmeyer from the firm Get Liquid Funding LLC – it makes it six lawyers since the two legal cases began in 2017.
All this courtroom drama comes just a few months after Richard told the Palm Beach family court in an affidavit that he wanted to proceed with the divorce, which has been dragging on for years.
Although it appears that Lakeisha wants them to remain together and posted two photos on her Instagram in May last year, which shows them driving on a family day out with Dylan and posing arm-in-arm.
Richard and Lakeisha met at a Miami club where she was working as a dancer.
Richard and son Chavoita, who has power of attorney over his father, spoke exclusively to The U.S. Sun last year to claim that her fraud extended to cashing social security checks and stealing his cars, with Lakeisha admitting in court testimony to selling one Bluebird motor home because Richard left her and Dylan with no food.
“I can’t remember how long it was into the relationship as far as my dad starting to have financial headaches, like, ‘What’s going on with my social security checks?’” Chavoita said.
“Lakeisha took the Mercedes, she took the bus, she took money, what else was it? The motorcycle.
“There are so many things that she stole or forged documents for him. That’s considered elder abuse.
“We’re just putting all of it together, it’s a lot. This whole situation has been frustrating.”.…CONTINUE.FULL.READING>>>
