Anne Heche Doesn't Have to Pay for July

Judge allows actress to skip July support payment to her ex-hubby after she declares herself in dire financial straits

By Natalie Finn May 15, 2008 4:15 AMTags
Anne Heche, Coley Laffoon Denise Truscello/WireImage.com
Men in Trees has gone the way of the dodo. Unfortunately, Anne Heche's cash supply seems to be nearing extinction, as well.

After Heche claimed she'll be more than $6,000 in the hole if she's required to shell out any more money, a judge on Wednesday granted the actress' request to suspend child and spousal support payments to ex-husband Coley Laffoon for the month of July, according to court documents obtained by E! News. (View the docs.)

And this apparently isn't sour grapes on the divorcée's part.

Per a declaration filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, Heche is $364,000 in debt—mainly due to her ongoing divorce litigation—and had only $34,840.93 in all of her accounts as of Tuesday.

Meanwhile, since first filing a request earlier this year to postpone payments while her series was on hiatus during the writers' strike, she's been giving Laffoon—a videographer turned stay-at-home dad to their 6-year-old son, Homer—$14,798 a month in support. The once-warring exes share joint custody.

"Since January 18, 2008, I have been unemployed and had no income from unemployment except for one very short term contract for a movie role for which I received a total of $65,000, approximately the amount I received for one episode of Men in Trees [which has not been renewed for a third season]," Heche's filing states.

"My recurring business expenditures, household expenditures and support payments have nearly exhausted my financial resources...I am continuing to look for work but I have no offers pending and the impending strike by the Screen Actors Guild reduces my prospects for work even further."

Among the expenditures listed are private school tuition for Homer, rent for her L.A. residence, the mortgage on her Vancouver abode and miscellaneous auto and personal expenses. Heche says the $240,000 she received in January from the sale of her and Laffoon's Hollywood home is already long gone.

She argues that an upcoming disbursement from their community-property fund in the amount of $73,470 apiece should be enough to tide Laffoon over until their next court hearing on July 2.