Larry Brown Sports

Take it from me: Divorce is really, really expensive, especially in California. The news recently broke that Kobe and Vanessa Bryant have reconciled. If you’re wondering how much Kobe would have to pony up if he and Vanessa Bryant couldn’t get back together, you might want to keep reading. You also might want to sit down.

Kobe would obviously have to pay child support for his two daughters, Natalia and Gianna. As required by federal law, California uses a formula to calculate child support. The most important factors in determining child support are the incomes of the spouses and the timeshare each spouse has with the children.

As Kobe and Vanessa did not sign a prenuptial agreement, Kobe would also have to pay spousal support to Vanessa. In California, the higher-earning spouse can be expected to support the lower-earning spouse for half the length of the marriage in many cases. However, once a marriage hits 10 years, it’s a totally different ball game. A 10-year marriage is considered a long-term marriage and a California judge can award spousal support indefinitely. Vanessa and Kobe crossed that 10-year threshold a few months before Vanessa initiated divorce proceedings, meaning Kobe might have had to pay spousal support for the rest of Vanessa’s life (ouch).

So what are we looking at in terms of child and spousal support?

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Vanessa Bryant has called off her divorce from Kobe a little over a year after initiating the process.

Vanessa initiated the divorce in Dec. 2011, but she announced on her new Instagram account Friday that the two have reconciled and that they are no longer divorcing.

“We are pleased to announce that we have reconciled,” she wrote on Instagram on behalf of her and Kobe. “Our divorce action will be dismissed. We are looking forward to our future together.”

Kobe was working hard to try to preserve the marriage after Vanessa initiated the divorce. Not only did he sign the couple’s three mansions over to her (Vanessa recently sold one for $3.22 million), but he also continued trying to be a good family man.

The two were spotted kissing on Valentine’s Day, and they attended a Los Angeles Kings playoff game together with their children a few months later.

It was reported in June that they were working on an official reconciliation. Several months later, that has come through.

Here’s Vanessa’s Instagram posting on the matter:

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Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, recently finalized the sale of one of her three Southern California mansions, TMZ reports.

Kobe signed the couple’s three properties over to Vanessa when the two were beginning divorce proceedings in late 2011.

Vanessa listed the 6,000 square foot mansion on sale for $3.75 million in September. TMZ reports and a listing service confirms that the property officially sold for $3.22 million on Jan. 8. They say Vanessa’s mother was living in the mansion prior to the sale.

The couple purchased the property for $2.65 million in 2003, so Vanessa enjoyed a healthy profit on the investment.

According to a listing on Redfin.com, the property has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. It is located in the Pelican Ridge Estate gated community in Newport Coast.

In addition to selling one of her mansions, Vanessa, like her husband, has recently joined a social media service. A few months before Kobe joined Twitter, Vanessa joined Instagram. She used her platform to respond to rapper Drake, who criticized her in one of his songs.

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Vanessa Bryant gave us a glimpse into what appeared to be her front-running and demanding personality during a recent interview, but she has recanted after realizing how badly the comments made her look.

In an interview with New York Magazine, Vanessa Bryant said “I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can’t win championships.

“If you’re sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year.”

After reading that, it was hard to tell which one of the Bryants demands a championship more. But after all the negative publicity she received for her remarks, Vanessa recanted.

“I’m sad to hear that comments in my New York Magazine interview are being misconstrued and taken out of context,” she said in a statement, per TMZ. “I have and will continue to support my husband’s dreams.

“I have been with Kobe for 13 years. I accepted his marriage proposal PRIOR to him winning any of his 5 championships with his teammates.

“For anyone to think otherwise is wrong. It is not about being married to a ‘winner’ it is about our sacrifice as a family.”

Vanessa got engaged to Kobe in May 2000 and he won his first championship in June 2000. Can’t dispute the facts.

In addition to giving the Lakers a better chance to win an NBA championship, the acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash may actually help Kobe Bryant’s marriage. But how? As you probably know, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant have been trying to reconcile their marriage since earlier in the summer. As far as we know, they have not gotten all the way there yet. Judging by what Vanessa said she looks for in a partner, winning another ring this season could work in Kobe’s favor.

According to Nicki Jhabvala of Sports on Earth (via The Basketball Jones), Vanessa had the following to say during an interview with New York Magazine:

“I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can’t win championships,” she said. “If you’re sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year.”

If she said this a few months ago we could have made a solid LeBron James joke, but now it wouldn’t really be appropriate.

It’s pretty obvious Vanessa is only interesting in being with a winner. Kobe has five championship rings, but perhaps a sixth could go a long way toward making his wife forget about these pictures from London. Forget tying M.J. — Kobe needs to win his wife back.

UPDATE: Vanessa Bryant has backtracked from her comments. Here’s her statement.

It may have been a coincidence of timing that got Kobe Bryant in trouble during Team USA’s visit to Barcelona, but the situation has reportedly angered his wife regardless. Last week, Team USA was at a social event in Spain and some photos surfaced that show Bryant in a couple of sticky situations. According to TMZ, the photo you see above was taken at an after party shortly after someone spilled their entire drink on Kobe. He was only briefly shirtless while someone when to get him a new shirt.

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Kobe and Vanessa Bryant are not getting a divorce but are instead working on reconciling their marriage, according to TMZ.

Vanessa filed for divorce last December and needed to wait six months before filing the documents to make their split official, but she apparently is not planning to finalize things.

TMZ says the two have been spending a lot of time together and that they’re trying to work things out. That’s no surprise — between the kiss on the lips they shared on Valentine’s Day and the Kings hockey game the family watched together, all signs were pointing to a reconciliation.

Kobe isn’t living with his family yet, but it looks like he’s managed to get the divorce called off — for now.