Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams has been ordered to pay $50,629 a month in child support to his ex-wife following a bitter custody battle.
In a court ruling filed on Tuesday and obtained by DailyMail.com, the 36-year-old will also have to pay a total of $270,000 in legal fees to ex Aryn Drake-Lee.
Williams and Drake-Lee have two children together from their five-year marriage, including three-year-old son Maceo and four-year-old daughter Sadie.
The actor will have to pay $50,629 a month in support from July 1 based on his ‘extraordinarily high’ monthly salary of $521,000, according to the court ruling.
Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams has been ordered to pay $50,629 a month in child support to his ex-wife following a bitter custody battle. He is pictured above in LA on Tuesday
A judge had signed off on a request back in January for Williams to pay the monthly support sum but his ex-wife filed additional court documents requesting $73,369 per month instead.
Williams had tried to argue in court documents that he should not have to pay any child support directly to Drake-Lee.
Instead, he argued that he should support his children by only making payments to third parties.
‘The reasonable needs of the children can be met by (Williams) directly paying school tuition, uninsured medical and certain other expenses totaling $7,465 a month,’ the actor argued in the papers.
The ruling on Tuesday, however, stated that the point of child support was to maintain the children’s needs given their right to ‘share in a lifestyle and condition consistent with their parents’ current station in life’.
It added that the reasonable needs of the couple’s children would not be met if Williams did not pay support directly to his ex-wife given they spend most of their custodial time with her.
Williams and Drake-Lee (above in 2013) have two children together from their five-year marriage, including three-year-old son Maceo and four-year-old daughter Sadie
Williams stars as Dr Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy (above on the show). The $50,629 a month sum is based on his monthly salary of $521,000, according to the court documents
Williams has already contributed $110,000 to his ex-wife’s legal fees, but the ruling ordered him to pay an additional $160,000 for fees associated with attorney costs and forensic accounting.
In earlier court documents filed in response to Drake-Lee’s request for increased child support, Williams had argued that his ex-wife had grossly exaggerated their expenses and the children’s needs, including a request for $25,000 a month for college savings.
‘We agreed that our children should live a simple life without wasting money on extravaganza,’ he had said in the papers.
‘A constant theme throughout our divorce proceedings has been Aryn marginalizing me as a father and frustrating my custodial timeshare with the children,’ he added.
‘Aryn continues to engage in this type of behavior and punish me for having a career and working hard to provide for our family.’
Williams filed for divorce from Drake-Lee in April 2017 after five years of marriage.
The actor was given custody of his children every other weekend, two days each week, as well as on Father’s Day. They will alternate custody on major holidays including, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July.