Heard, Depp argue over divorce settlement donation
Los Angeles, Aug 26 (IANS) Actress Amber Heard’s team has said her former husband Johnny Depp is not being completely honest over the donation money of their divorce settlement.
After Heard announced that she would be donating the entirety of her $7 million divorce settlement from Depp to charity, Depp agreed to send the cheques directly to the organisations.
However, Heard feels Depp is not keeping his word.
On Thursday, Depp’s team announced that he donated the first installment of the settlement to two charities: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with a particular focus on stopping domestic violence, and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The donations should eventually amount to $3.5 million for each organisation.
But by personally donating the money to the charities, Depp would fail to honour the terms of their settlement, as he would receive a charitable tax deduction, argues Heard’s camp, reports variety.com.
“Amber Heard appreciates Johnny Depp’s novel interest in supporting two of her favourite charities, the ACLU for domestic violence and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. This is great and unexpected news,” said the statement from Heard’s team.
“However, if Johnny wishes to change the settlement agreement, we must insist that he honour the full amount by donating $14 million to charity, which, after accounting for his tax deduction, is equal to his $7 million payment obligation to Amber. We would also insist that the full amount be paid immediately and not drawn out over many years,” the statement further read.
Heard and Depp settled their divorce case on August 16.