NBA Star Dwayne Wade’s Wife Ordered to be Taken into Custody
A Chicago judge has ordered that the estranged wife of Miami Heat star basketball player Dwayne Wade be taken into custody, according to an article in USA Today.
The order came after Siohvaughn Wade failed to appear for a divorce hearing. Once she is taken into custody, Siovaughn will have to post a $10,000 bond in order to be released. According to the sheriff’s department, they wouldn’t know when the order would be carried out.
Cook County Circuit Judge Marya Nega said that she was tired of Siovaughn’s behavior during the tumultuous divorce from her basketball star husband. “When things don’t go according to Mrs. Wade’s way all of a sudden the phone’s turned off,” said Judge Nega, revealing her exasperation as Siovaughn’s attorney explained that she had not been able to contact her client.
The judge said that Siovaughn had disregarded court orders in the past, including an order to ensure that the couple’s children spoke with their father every day. Nega also cited the childrens’ absence from school the previous week, where Dwayne’s sister was supposed to pick them up, as ordered by the judge.
Dwayne Wade’s attorney was planning to request that Dwayne received physical custody of the couple’s children, two boys aged 8 and 2, on the day that Siovaughn did not appear in court.
Judge Nega stated that she was concerned about the impact of the divorce on the children. She hinted that she was considering giving custody of them to Dwayne.
“Maybe it’s time for the kids to go live with Dad for a month or two,” she said.
Recently, Siovaughn filed a lawsuit claiming that Dwayne’s relationship with the actress Gabrielle Union was, according to USA Today, “causing the couple’s son emotional distress, alleging, for example, that Wade and Union ‘engaged in sexual foreplay’ in front of the boys.”
Dwayne Wade responded to the lawsuit by calling it “baseless and meritless.” Following the latest divorce hearing, Dwayne’s lawyer, James Pritikin, stated that he would like Siovaughn to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Pritikin said that Siovaughn has repeatedly thwarted Dwayne from visiting their kids or from talking with them on the phone. She had even, according to Pritikin, called the police on Dwayne when he arrived at the couple’s home to pick up the children. She falsely claimed, said Pritikin, that there was a warrant out for Dwayne’s arrest.
Pritikin also requested that the state’s attorney’s office launch a criminal investigation of Siovaughn. Documents from his office claimed that Siovaughn was “unstable, dishonest, and unbalanced,” and that for the kids to spend more time with her “would seriously endanger the minor children’s physical, mental, moral and emotional health.”
Siovaughn’s attorney did attempt to take some of the blame. Marsha Fisher said that she was in a car accident recently, and that because of that Siovaughn may have thought that she didn’t have to appear in court. The judge was dismissive of this claim, however.
Dwayne Wade, who is a Chicago native, has played in the NBA since 2003. He was drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, out of Marquette University. In 2005-06, he led the Miami Heat to an NBA Championship.
