Many Colorado readers will remember retired NBA star Allen Iverson from the years he played for the Denver Nuggets. Iverson is in the news again, this time due to an acrimonious divorce from his wife, Tawanna. What makes this story more interesting than the typical high asset divorce story is that it appears Iverson may not in fact be wealthy — in court filings, he claims he’s broke.
In divorce papers filed in Georgia, Iverson claims he brings in $62,500 per month. One would think that would be enough to live on. But Iverson claims he has expenses of about $360,000 per month, leading to a net monthly deficit of about $300,000. According to the court documents, Iverson pays about $125,000 per month to various creditors. One of them is his jeweler. He is also paying multiple mortgages on homes that he owns, although one he owns in Atlanta is set to be sold at an auction.
Iverson claims his monthly clothing expenses come to $10,000. Keeping all those clothes clean is not cheap; he reports he pays $1,000 per month for dry cleaning. His monthly expenses include grocery expenses of $10,000 and restaurant and entertainment expenses of $10,000.
Iverson’s assets, on the other hand, include a car worth nearly $400,000. It is not clear from news reports what other assets he owns, or how much equity he has in any of his homes.
Asset division is usually one of the biggest issues in a high asset divorce. In Colorado, both property and debts are divided on an equitable basis. In a case like Iverson’s, lawyers and accountants are likely to be spending a lot of time figuring out the value of his assets in order to get a better picture of his overall financial situation.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, “Iverson talkin’ bout finance in divorce court. Says he loses $300K/month,” Dan Gross, Dec. 4, 2012
