Joey Lawrence's Wife Of 2 Years Moves To Skip Spousal Support In Divorce Filing

The divorce storm has hit Joey Lawrence and Samantha Lawrence's home, and it comes with some serious demands!

The actor's wife of two years cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the filing. She asked for sole physical custody of their daughter while also looking to skip spousal support both ways.

Joey Lawrence and Samatha Lawrence married in May 2022 after meeting on the set of a Lifetime movie in 2020.

In the divorce filing, the mother-of-one disclosed that they have separated since June and asked to block the court's ability to award either of them spousal support. She is not willing to compromise on one thing—the sole physical custody of her daughter Dylan and Joey's limited access to her.

Samantha continued that once Dylan turns 3, she would allow their daughter to spend up to 2 nights a week at Joey's residence. However, her stay must not exceed this period until she is older and can consent to an extended stay by herself.

That is not all; TMZ shared that she also demands that non-family members should not be allowed near Dylan when she is with her father unless permission comes from her (Samantha).

Now that the cat is out of the bag, the mom of one may have hinted at her marital problems ten weeks ago. Samantha uploaded a cryptic write-up on her Instagram, accompanied by pictures of herself and Dylan.

The cryptic post definitely seemed like the actress was coming to terms with the breakdown of her marriage and choosing to look on the bright side of things. The message read:

"Not everything you lose is a loss. Some things are a freedom. Some /*things are a second chance. Some things are a miracle in disguise. Some things are a detachment long-needed, a clarity brought to blurry eyes. Some things are an intervention."

Samantha also unfollowed Joey on the app and took him out of her bio. He was also seemingly missing in the other pictures that accompanied the cryptic message.

Samantha and Joey's love story began on the set of "My Husband's Secret Brother" in 2020. When the movie premiered on the Lifetime network in September 2021, PEOPLE reported that Samantha used the opportunity to celebrate their romance.

"#MyHusbandsSecretBrother ... will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the movie that led me to my future hubby," Cope captioned the Instagram post in September 2021 of the film's poster, then added:

"That amazing October morning... driving to work — about to start a new project, having no idea that God had even bigger things in store."

The movie was directed by Joey's brother, Andrew, and Joey admitted in 2023 that it was his first time dating someone he had worked with before. He added, "That was just very, very much out of the ordinary for me. I was her lover and also her killer (in the film)."

However, he clarified that they are super comfortable working together on screen, and he does not worry about anything.

"There's a lot of trust there, obviously a familairitythere. We met doing a movie, which was weird, because that's never happened to me in my life, all the 41 years of doing this," noted the actor.

Samantha and Joey exchanged their vows two years after meeting at a romantic outdoor wedding at Temecula Creek Inn in California, surrounded by family and friends. The groom's brothers, Andrew and Matthew, gave speeches at the farm-to-table dinner reception.

Samantha gushed about her husband and described him as her safe place to be herself from the first day they locked eyes. The actress declared:

"He loves everything about me and celebrates all those weird quirks about me. I was so blessed to be in a position to receive that. Two weeks in, I was like, 'I will be with you forever.'"

Joey described her as someone who is like-minded and has the same love language. He added that they "communicate the same way," which was super important and made him thankful they crossed paths.

The Lifetime star is surely not new to the process, as The Blast reported that he was responsible for filing the petition to dissolve his marriage to his second wife, Chandie Yawn-Nelson, in 2020.

They met as teenagers and married in July 2005, but trouble began in their paradise in 2018 when the actor filed for bankruptcy.

Joey owed $88,000 in back taxes, $132,000 in credit card bills, $54,000 in unpaid rent, $32,000 for an unpaid loan, and $100,000 for automobiles, while his assets stood at $43,907.

The estranged couple listed July 14, 2020, as the official date of their separation and eventually agreed on joint legal custody of their two children in February 2022, bringing their divorce settlement to a close.

Joey and Samantha's divorce process has surely started on a tense note, and it remains to see if things will escalate between the estranged couple!