Sister Wives star Kody Brown has taken his and Robyn Brown’s beloved Flagstaff home off the market. The move coincides with Christine Brown filing a lawsuit against her ex, Kody, that could cost her a lot of money.
So the question on everyone’s mind is: Is Kody playing real estate games to avoid paying what he owes one (or more) of his ex-wives? Because all three of her exes have money tied up in Robyn and Kody’s home equity.
On TLC’s Sister Wives, the timeline of events is as follows:
- In August, Kody and Robyn listed their 4,400-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-bathroom home for $1.65 million. This is almost double the $890,000 paid in 2019.
- Then on September 15, season 19 of Sister Wives premiered. And, the next day, Christine’s lawyer filed a complaint against Kody Brown. The lawsuit seeks to establish Kody’s paternity as the father of Truely Brown. This is accompanied by a request for current and arrears child support payments.
- By October 8, Kody had taken the house off the market. But not before reducing the price from $700,000 to $949,000. This amount was only $59,000 more than their purchase price five years earlier.
This approach seems suspicious. What were Kody and Robyn’s motivations for removing the list? Could they have lowered the price, then removed the listing, to make it appear like there was no equity in the house? Or no interest in the market?
Sister Wives: Kody Brown Takes Flagstaff House Off the Market Amid Christine Lawsuit
Sister Wives fans saw the family move from Las Vegas to Flagstaff, Arizona in mid-2018. And this was the beginning of their current financial difficulties.
When Robyn found the big house of her dreams in 2019, she and Kody didn’t have enough money for the down payment. At the time, Kody was still spiritually married to Christine Brown, Janelle Brown, and Meri Brown.
So his three other sister wives had to put up some of their own money for the down payment. In other words, the other three wives contributed to the down payment on Robyn Brown’s house.
Janelle thought the contributions were large enough to warrant adding her, Meri and Christine to the legal documents (like the mortgage). But Kody refused. And claimed it was necessary to “protect” Robyn’s estate.
Robyn addressed this topic on an episode of Sister Wives. She asked, “How do you…how do you calculate, how do you understand that?” It’s so confusing.
Except that’s not the case. They know how much each woman gave them. This is the principal of the loan. So she and Kody owe that plus a reasonable interest rate. That’s similar to what Kody and Robyn Brown would have had to pay for a second mortgage to cover the down payment they couldn’t afford.
Or, you can take the amount of cash each woman has invested in the house and count it toward an ownership percentage. For example, if each woman invested equally, each would own 25% of the house.
Now just have the expensive Flagstaff house appraised and pay each ex-wife her percentage of the sale proceeds once the mortgage is paid off. Very easy.
But claiming that it is too difficult to calculate the reimbursement so that you don’t have to pay it back is ridiculous.
SW: Janelle, Meri and Christine owed money from Robyn’s house deposit?
Janelle Brown already mentioned in a recent episode that she had hired a lawyer to resolve the issue. Because Kody said on Sister Wives that he refused to talk about it with her. Or give him details.
The combination of Janelle’s threat of legal action and Christine’s child support lawsuit could explain why Kody’s doesn’t want to sell the house at this time.
If he and Robyn receive any money from the sale, they may be required to pay Christine a portion of child support when the court’s decision is made.
Christine should be entitled to at least three years of child support, if not more. A lot depends on when Kody stopped supporting Truely Brown. Additionally, he will have to pay ongoing child support until Truely turns 18 (or possibly older if she attends college).
As for Janelle, Meri and Christine Brown, they should, at a minimum, be able to get back the money they invested. Plus interest, capped at 10% under Arizona state law.
If Kody Brown sells the property, he will likely be forced to reimburse his three ex-wives for their investment.
By choosing not to sell, Kody and Robyn could delay repayment to Meri, Janelle and Christine. This actually gives Kody and Robyn a reason to never sell the house.
In fact, if they moved to another house, they could keep the house and turn it into a rental property. Wouldn’t you love to stay in a great AirBNB near Coyote Pass owned by Robyn and Kody Brown and see all of their “amazing art” on the walls?