November 9, 2009: U Don't Have to Call (anymore)

Usher finalizes his divorce from Tameka Raymond.

by Jeffrey Cottrill

Usher wasn't lying when he said he was "ready to sign them papers". The R&B singer's divorce from his wife of only two years, Tameka Raymond (née Foster), became final last week.

Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane, of the Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta, issued the divorce decree last Wednesday. Details of any child-custody arrangement have not been publicized, although Usher had been seeking joint custody of the couple's two sons, two-year-old Usher Raymond V and one-year-old Naviyd Ely Raymond.

More information on divorce and separation: Crafting a Separation Agreement Making the Decision Separation Agreement Considerations Contemplating Divorce: Separation Reasons for Divorce

Usher, 31, filed for divorce on June 12, claiming that the marriage was "irretrievably broken" and that there was "no reasonable hope of reconciliation", according to court documents. Usher said in his divorce filing that he and Foster had been separated since July 2008, but Foster later said in a June 29 court statement that she and the singer had been "intimately together as husband and wife as recently as June 6" and that she "had every reason to believe her marriage was intact".

Foster's family also reportedly disputes Usher's separation claim, insisting that he was living with her at their family home until at least March of this year. The couple was spotted together holding hands at the January inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Usher and Foster married in August 2007 after a seven-month engagement.

Usher, whose full name is Usher Raymond IV, will release his next album, Raymond Vs. Raymond, on December 8. Rumor has it that the album will be largely inspired by his divorce.

• The Divorce Process: Part IV -- The issues and the Judgment
• Who Decides: You or the Judge?
• Divorce: What went wrong?

More articles     Find a lawyer      Divorce FAQs       Divorce newsletter