Why was Swizz Beatz’ Divorce so Messy?

Swizz Beatz and ex-wife Mashonda’s divorce became final on May 7th, although the couple had signed the divorce papers months before they were legally divorced. Less than 2 weeks later, Mashonda’s attorney told DimeWars that Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys were engaged, and about a week after that, on May 28, Beatz and Keys confirmed that they were expecting a child. They plan on being married later this year, although “later” can be as soon as this summer.

Swizz Beatz break-up with his wife, Mashonda, has been thoroughly covered by the media. Beatz, whose real name is Kasseem Dean, and Mashonda both contributed to that coverage through interviews and Twitter to tell their side of the story. Of course, their sides don’t quite match up. But that is par for the course even when Alicia Keys is not the alleged mistress.

Swizz Beatz’ side: In a video interview posted on March 11, 2009, the 31 year old record producer, DJ and rapper implies that his marriage with Mashonda was over long before he ever took up with Alicia Keys. He implies that Mashonda interfered with his relationship with his oldest son, Prince (from a previous relationship). Beatz also talks about how in a relationship, the partners should be equals and intimates that this is the way he feels about Miss Keys. Conveniently, he skips over why he just didn’t tell Mashonda he was seeing Alicia Keys when he began doing it, since according to him, their marriage was already in the toilet. And he seems angry and bitter that Mashonda “went through his phone.” (That fleeting deja vu sense you may have just experienced is known as Tiger Woods).

Mashonda’s side: In an earlier radio interview, Mashonda addresses what she went through when she found out about the affair. By the time this interview was conducted, her public twitter message to Alicia Keys and twitter wars with Beatz were a thing of the past, and she had chosen to move on after seeing that she was not going to be able to salvage her marriage. She talks about her record “Dirty Laundry” and how it is not a diss record. “It’s for the ladies,” she says, “cause we all go through it at some point in life …” She says that her son, Kasseem Dean, Jr., kept her strong. Mashonda says she knows she didn’t do anything wrong….” A lot of people still don’t want to believe that homegirl could be involved in such an act, but people live for the moment … regardless of the consequences or the karma, if you believe in it …”

In spite of her sentiments about wishing to move on, the couple will soon be back in court over that money thing — what divorced couples fight about the most. The NY Post reported on May 18, 2010, that Mashonda Dean filed papers saying Swizz Beatz already owes her $334,000 in missed payments.

“I so much wanted both of us to get on with our lives and maintain our respect for one another, but he now shows that his priorities and sense of responsibility are screwed up,” Mashonda said. Her attorney, Bernard Clair found the situation “particularly troubling” in light of a 7-carat engagement ring Beatz purchased for Alicia Keys earlier this year. He also indicated that Beatz and Keys are moving into a $14.5 million duplex penthouse on Crosby Street. Beatz denies that he owes Mashonda that much money and blames her for his disobeying the court order because, according to him, she was selling his things.

I think that Swizz is not seeing that honesty is the best policy and he is also going to find out something his attorney may have already told him but he doesn’t want to believe: the court goes by the court order in place, not by what the parties think is owed. Now before anybody jumps on me and says I don’t know anything about how these things really work, let me say that I do indeed know.

Not too long ago, I worked in a law firm that handled support matters and did some of the paperwork on a case where the support order for one child was $12.00 a week. The father wasn’t working at the time of the divorce, so they ordered him to pay that nominal sum through Probation. He paid it for a couple of years, then Probation sent him a letter saying he must be working by now, so he should pay $35.00 a week. He did that for a couple of years, but unbeknownst to either party, they did not set that $35.00 amount down in a court order.

After 2 years, Probation discovered the order still said $12.00, so they gave him a credit for $23.00 a week for all the weeks he paid $35.00, over $2,000. This case is a good example of how it is not always the couple who are at the root of the problem, but then one party acts in bad faith. The mother was willing to take $50 a week and not go through Probation, but the father thought he could go to the hearing and claim he wasn’t working again and keep the $12 order in place. By then, the hearing officer was sick of the ‘tale of no work’ and entered an order for $80 a week, using the power that the hearing officer has to base child support on imputed earnings. Before that happened, obviously the system and the mother had both bent over backwards to be fair to the father.

Now back to the Swizz/Mashonda divorce, it really takes a good faith effort from both parties to make things work out and to stay out of court post-divorce. When you see a divorced couple back in court, it is because one of them is not making that good faith effort and/or is irresponsibly ignoring a court order.

Note: The NY Post article has a typo on Kasseem Jr.’s age. Swizz’ son, Kasseem, Jr. is 3 years old, and his oldest child, Prince Nasir, is 9.

Is he also the father of another child born to a Russian singer? See M.G. Kidd’s article.

Sources: Embedded