Sherri Shepherd is fighting to keep full custody of the unborn child currently being carried by a surrogate mother, while her divorce battle with Lamar Sally heats up.
It’s only been a few days since the television co-host of The View filed divorce documents in response to Sally filing for legal separation.
While the divorce documents didn’t specifically mention anything about custody of the couple’s unborn child, it did ask that a judge enforce their prenuptial agreement – and that could very well be Shepherd’s secret weapon.
TMZ recently learned that the prenup would allow Shepherd to keep full custody of the baby.
The prenup allegedly states that Sally agrees to let the baby, which is due at the end of July, live with Shepherd and her son Jeffrey from a previous relationship.
There is a catch, however.
Sally was well aware of this clause in the agreement and has already taken steps to get the prenup nullified.
In his own legal documents, Sally asked a judge to disregard the prenup on the grounds of fraud.
As TMZ pointed out, proving fraud in a divorce battle is incredibly difficult to do – just ask Kim Kardashian’s ex, Kris Humphries.
If the prenup remains in tact, however, Sally won’t just be missing out on custody of the new baby.
There is a lot of money up for grabs, as well.
In 2010, Shepherd made well over $1 million and has received several raises since then.
Sally, on the other hand, made roughly $30,000 that same year with almost $10,000 coming from unemployment benefits.
Under the terms of the prenup, Sally would be given a lump sump of $60,000 and then Shepherd would not be obligated to give him another dime.
If the prenup gets tossed, however, he could rake in some serious cash through spousal support.
In addition to protecting her money and her unborn child, Shepherd has also been very adamant about protecting her son Jeffrey as well.
Sources revealed that the reason she has been so silent on the issue is that she doesn’t want her son to be exposed to media scrutiny.
“She’s trying to protect her little boy, Jeffrey,” one source told HollywoodLife.com “She wants to protect him from all the scrutiny that’s coming along with having a public break-up.”
