As of Friday, April 6, the dust is beginning to settle on the jaw-dropping bankruptcy case of former child star Joey Lawrence. The case, which has largely stayed out of the press until now, tells a pretty depressing tale of financial strife for the eldest Lawrence brother. Along with his wife of 13 years, Chandie Yawn-Nelson, Lawrence has been attempting recover from the financial woes that have plagued the couple in recent years.
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While it wasn’t highly publicized at the time, this case began when Lawrence and Yawn-Nelson filed for bankruptcy in July 2017. According to The Blast, their financial situation had become so dire the couple was forced to sell off quite literally any and all possessions, from their clothes to their cars, sometimes on eBay, at thrift stores and beyond.
The Blast also reports that at the time of the bankruptcy filing, Lawrence’s household expenses were exorbitant — to the point that it’s not really all that difficult to see why he landed in the sticky financial situation he’s been in recently. “[Lawrence’s] expenses are substantial with $13,500 a month in rent, $1,281 on water and sewer bills, $2,400 on food and housekeeping supplies, $1,000 on entertainment and $2,348 for one car lease and $498 on a second. [His] monthly expenses totaled $25,505.35 leaving him in the red every month [by] $18,539.35.”
A year later, it looks like Lawrence’s bankruptcy case is finally settled, but it took a lot of work to get there. According to Us Weekly, a trustee working on behalf of Lawrence “collected $75,636.22 to pay back the money the couple owed. However, after legal fees and other administrative expenses, there was a balance of $52,547.88 left to pay his various creditors, including the IRS, which will only receive $31,000 out of the $67,000 owed.”
Additionally, the following companies will receive nothing from Lawrence per the settlement, with the sky-high balances on record indicating just how bad things have gotten. Those companies include Capital One, who was owed $30,991, “American Express (owed $48,506), Ford Motor [Credit] Company (owed $42,000), BMW [Financial Services] (owed $50,030), Daimel Trust (owed nearly $130,000) and Woodside credit (owed $76,965).”
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As of this writing, Lawrence had yet to release a statement. It’s not clear whether Lawrence has any intention of adjusting his spending habits to prevent something like this from happening again. As far as work is concerned, it looks like he will be able to dive into some new projects and temporarily put these financial burdens on the back burner. According to his IMDb page, he has two feature-length films and a TV movie in post-production and a new film was recently announced — a silver lining to be sure.
Regardless, it’s hard not to feel for him. These kinds of situations, no matter how famous you are, are never easy to navigate.
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