'RHONY' star Luann de Lesseps accused of stealing children's inheritance by breaking divorce deal
Luann de Lesseps has once again found herself in a soup as she is being sued by her two children and her ex-husband, Alexandre de Lesseps, over the sale of their $8 million house. They have also alleged, in the lawsuit, that 53-year-old violated her divorce agreement with Lesseps by stealing from her own children — daughter Victoria de Lesseps and son Noel de Lesseps.
As per documents which were obtained by The Blast, the 'Real Housewives of New York City' star allegedly breached one particular stipulation of her divorce settlement by failing to create a trust “for the benefit of her two children.” The former couple settled their divorce in 2009 after a 16-year marriage.
“This action arises from Defendant’s breach of a Stipulation of Settlement and related Judgment of Divorce by her failure to create a trust for the benefit of her children, her conversion of the trust’s corpus and her present threat to abscond with money derived from the potential sale of the trust corpus and use it to purchase, for herself alone, a luxury home in upstate New York,” the documents read.
According to People magazine, the judgment in Luann's divorce entitles her husband to give the deed of the former couple’s marital residence in Bridgehampton, New York to her so that she can create a trust for her two children. Moreover, as per the documents, Luann was also required to “fund the trust with an undivided one-half interest in and to the Marital Residence.”
But now it has come to a point where Alexandre and the couple's two children are making claims that Luann “never created” the Trust. Instead, they are alleging that the reality TV star sold the residence in November 2014 for $8 million and used the earnings to buy a new house for herself in Southampton, New York for $3.1 million.
As per the recorded statement, if the marital home was sold, “the entire net proceeds of the sale may at any time prior to the termination of the Trust, be reinvested by [Luann] to purchase another residence, provided that the children shall continue to be the owners, in Trust, of an undivided one-half interest in said property.”
But the documents from Luann's ex-husband and children's lawsuit allege that Luann “has never, since her purchase of the Premises, created the Trust or conveyed to her children, in Trust, an undivided one-half interest in the premises.”
Moreover, the official documents clearly state that Luann has threatened to sell her home “for more than fifty percent its present value and leave Suffolk County with the proceeds… so that she may purchase, for herself alone, a luxury home in upstate New York.”
While Alexandre, Victoria, and Noel are seeking for Luann to abide by the judgment and preventing her from listing or selling the home, Luann is busy with a new man in her life. According to multiple sources, the reality star has started seeing her agent, Richard Super, after almost a year of getting divorced from her former spouse Tom D'Agostino.
A source revealed the new couple was "first introduced professionally when Rich became Luann's agent." Explained the insider, "With both of them currently going through divorces, it was a natural progression for them to start dating."
"They only began dating late last month, but friends insist it's very casual right now," the insider added. And given all that Luann has suffered from in the past, it is quite normal for her to be taking things slightly slower than usual.
It was only a couple of months ago that the 'RHONY' star found out about the scrupulous activities of her ex-husband Tom, especially about the fact that he was dating someone else. “You’ve moved on pretty good, sunshine. No grass growing on your feet,” co-star Bethenny Frankel told de Lesseps before she came out with the truth about D’Agostino. "And he has some busted up, banged up girlfriend. That’s what I heard.”
Upon hearing this, de Lesseps was beyond shocked and admitted that she had no idea about any of this information, especially since the former couple had only split a few months before this conversation took place.
“He has no girlfriend,” Ramona Singer said later, all the while trying to save the conversation and eyeing Frankel on the side. “He had a different girlfriend every night!” And although Frankel was the person who revealed the news about D’Agostino to de Lesseps, she later tried to apologize by saying, “Sorry Luann, I really thought you knew.”
The revelation came only hours before her arrest last year, which saw her being arrested for disorderly intoxication in Palm Beach, Florida on the occasion of Christmas Eve.
In the video, De Lesseps is clearly seen struggling with the police officers and threatening to kill them in Palm Beach, Florida. The handcuffed reality TV star is then seen sitting in the back of a police vehicle while telling the cops she had “done nothing wrong” and asking them to “let me out, please.”
"This was my first time in Palm Beach since my wedding, and being here brought up long-buried emotions,” she explained in her statement after the arrest. “I want to offer my sincere apologies to anyone I might have offended by my behavior. I am committed to a transformative and hopeful 2018.”