“Grey’s Anatomy” fans in San Jose might have heard that one of its stars, Jesse Williams, has filed for divorce from his wife, Aryn Drake-Lee. The two were together for several years before getting married in September 2012.
They have two children together, a son who is almost 2 and a 3-year-old daughter. Williams, who has not been photographed with Drake-Lee since December 2015, has asked for termination of spousal support as well as joint legal and physical custody of their children.
Drake-Lee is a real estate broker, and Williams was a teacher in New York when the two first met. Later, Williams’ acting career took off and the two moved to California together. They have not released a public statement about their impending divorce.
Since California is a community property state, Williams might be required to pay half his earnings from acting to Drake-Lee. The request for shared legal and physical custody means the children might spend roughly equal time with both of them and that that they would also both have input into decisions about their education, health and religion. Often, parents will share legal custody while one parent has primary physical custody and the other has visitation rights, but some courts are making a greater effort to arrange for shared physical custody as well. Experts agree that children usually benefit from time with both parents even if that time is not shared 50/50. Once parents have a custody agreement in place, they might also want to have the help of their respective attorneys in putting together a parenting plan that covers various expectations and agreements.
Source: E Online, “Jesse Williams and Aryn Drake-Lee Divorcing After Nearly Five Years of Marriage“, McKenna Aiello.