Much earlier this year, Maralee Nichols called out Tristan Thompson as a deadbeat dad.
Now their son, Theo, is one year old.
Tristan’s affair with Maralee and his lies already cost him his relationship with Khloe Kardashian.
Now that he and Maralee have ironed out a child support settlement, it’s going to cost him a lot more. This time, financially.
TMZ reports that Tristan Thompson and Maralee Nichols have reached an accord.
Tristan already confessed to having fathered Theo — despite previously fighting the claim in court.
Now, instead of settling the matter of paternity, the matter was a paternity settlement.
According to the report — and this is TMZ, which makes it pretty darn credible — Tristan will pay a tremendous amount each month.
Specifically, he will send $9,500 a month in child support. That amounts to more than $100,000 a year.
Additionally, Tristan has agreed to cover some of Maralee’s legal fees. Attorneys do not come cheap.
On the one hand, $9,500 a month is “low” given Tristan’s spectacular earnings.
Tristan’s NBA contracts have added up to around $100 million during his high profile career.
A six-figure annual sum is not that much by those standards.
But we are talking about child support for just one kid — Theo is currently one, and has limited needs at present.
Also, Tristan is not actually playing on a team right now. That means that he does not currently have any income.
There are exceptions (some famous), but income is generally a major factor in determining child support.
Tristan and Maralee worked out more than just that financial arrangement.
Maralee will have sole custody of Theo.
Tristan has multiple children by nearly as many mothers, so that seems sensible.
The two will work out a formal visitation plan — not now, but in the near future.
Additionally, Maralee will now list Tristan as the father on Theo’s birth certificate.
Unless anything went awry, they filed the paternity settlement in Los Angeles County Superior Court late this week.
Twelve months ago, Maralee gave birth to Theo.
She had already notified Tristan. He had had months and months to inform Khloe that he had a child on the way.
Instead, he kept Maralee’s pregnancy and the cheating that led to it a secret. Oh, and he went through with IVF to bring a child into the world with Khloe.
Reports have said that Tristan offered to bribe Maralee to terminate her pregnancy and to keep it secret.
Allegedly, he offered to pay her $75,000.
We won’t boil down Maralee’s decision to a financial one. But … at $9,500 a month, she’ll have more than that in 8 months. Again, it’s not that simple, but it’s something to consider.
It was only in January that Tristan publicly confessed to having fathered Maralee’s baby.
Then, in July, Khloe’s gestational carrier gave birth to her and Tristan’s second child.
The two are now co-parents to True and to their son. The awkwardness will seemingly never end.
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