Ex-Lakers Star Matt Barnes Scores Small Victory in Child Support Battle With ‘Basketball Wives’ Star Gloria Govan
Jun. 23 2023, Published 11:30 a.m. ET
Matt Barnes convinced a judge to vacate a 6-figure judgment entered against him over alleged unpaid child support — but now the ex-NBA star has to respond to his ex Gloria Govan’s allegations in court, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, a Los Angeles judge granted a motion brought by Barnes asking for a judgment entered in March to be vacated.
As we previously reported, earlier this year, the Basketball Wives star was awarded $133k in back child support from Barnes. She claimed he stopped making his court-ordered payments and was in serious arrears.
Govan claimed that she served Barnes with the legal papers, but he blew off the case.
In addition, the court awarded Govan $25k in fees and sanctions.
Govan and Barnes divorced in 2015. The two share 14-year-old twin sons. Barnes was initially ordered to pay $20k per month in child support. As his NBA checks decreased, his child support obligations were slashed down to $7,500 per month.
A couple of weeks after the hearing, Barnes showed up to court claiming he was never notified of the matter. He accused Govan of sending the legal paperwork to an email address she knew he no longer used.
Barnes said he hasn’t used the email account she sent the mail to in over a year due to hacking. He claimed his ex knew of this and had even been using his new email on other occasions.
Barnes said Govan never mentioned the child support hearing despite having multiple conversations with him before the date.
He said, “Gloria and I texted the evening of March 8, 2023—the very same day as she appeared in Court on her RFO and secured a default order against me. At no point did Gloria mention her RFO, that I failed to appear, or the default order that resulted. She made no mention of it either in the following days.”
At the hearing, the judge sided with Barnes and vacated the judgment. Now, the exes will have to face off in court over the alleged child support owed.