Vanessa Bryant says mother Sofia Laine isn’t owed money from Kobe Bryant’s estate

Vanessa Bryant has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by her mother Sofia Laine against her late husband Kobe Bryant‘s estate.

Vanessa, 38, claims that her mother previously said she and Kobe had no obligation to support her during spousal support hearings from 2004 and 2008, TMZ reported on Monday.

Laine filed a lawsuit against Kobe’s estate back in December, claiming that the Los Angeles Lakes star had promised to support her for life.

In her newest filing, Vanessa zeroes in on Sofia’s statements from her spousal support hearings against her ex-husband.

At the time, her ex told the court that he wasn’t required to pay spousal support to Sofia because her daughter Vanessa and Kobe were supporting her with his wealth. 

But she claimed at the time that her daughter and son-in-law were not obligated to support her, and that anything she had received from them was merely a gift.

Sofia’s ex-husband also cited reports that Vanessa had purchased a $1 million home for her mother, which he claimed meant that she wasn’t in need of support from him as well. 

Receipts: Sofia (R) claimed that Vanessa and Kobe weren’t required to support her in 2004 and 2008 spousal support hearings with her ex. She also shot down rumors that Vanessa bought her a $1 million home at the time; seen in 2015

But Sofia denied those reports in court, calling them ‘absolutely false.’

‘I would never permit Vanessa to do such a thing. I have not and do not (nor should I be required to) rely on Vanessa for my support,’ she said at the time.

Vanessa also pushed back against her mother’s claim that Kobe had promised to ‘take care of her financially.’

Vanessa’s team says that even if the star athlete said that, the statement is too vague, making it unenforceable. 

Too vague: Vanessa’s legal team said that even if Kobe had promised to ‘take care of [Sofia] financially,’ the statement was too vague to be enforceable; pictured together in 2017

Fighting back: Vanessa shot down Sofia’s claims that she was owned back pay for babysitting her children, calling her ‘a grandmother who, at times, helped her daughter and son-in-law by spending time with her grandchildren’;pictured in November 2019

Sofia is also seeking compensation from Kobe’s estate because she claims he and Vanessa violated California labor law because she babysat for their children without being paid at least minimum wage.

She also says she should be compensated for not being given legally required meal breaks and and rest periods.

In her filing, Vanessa legal team wrote that, ‘[Sofia] was never an “employee,”‘ calling her ‘a grandmother who, at times, helped her daughter and son-in-law by spending time with her grandchildren.’

To cap everything off, Vanessa says all of her mother’s claim to Kobe’s estate are baseless because she didn’t file a creditor’s claim to it within one year of his death, which she says Sofia would have been required to do.

Her side: Vanessa took to her Instagram stories in December to defend both her and Kobe’s treatment of her mother over the past two decades

Different realities: ‘She now wants to back charge me $96 per hour for supposedly working 12 hours a day for 18 years for watching her grandchildren,’ she wrote. ‘In reality, she only occasionally babysat my older girls when they were toddlers ‘

Back in December, Vanessa addressed her mother’s legal claims on Instagram with a lengthy text post.

‘My mother is continuing to find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family,’ she said in the post. ‘I have supported her for nearly twenty years, and she was never my or Kobe’s personal assistant, nor was she a nanny.’

She claimed she and Kobe had always had ‘full-time caregivers’ and she called herself a ‘stay-at-home mother,’ implying she wouldn’t have needed the amount of childcare Sofia claimed to have provided.

‘For nearly two decades, we arranged for my mother to live in our nearby properties, at no cost to her because she claimed that she didn’t have money to buy her own home after her divorce,’ Vanessa continued.

‘She now wants to back charge me $96 per hour for supposedly working 12 hours a day for 18 years for watching her grandchildren,’ she wrote. ‘In reality, she only occasionally babysat my older girls when they were toddlers.

‘As of ten years ago, our kids were full time students and athletes and I didn’t have another child until 2016.’ 

Kindness: Vanessa added in her post that she had still been voluntarily supporting her mother, despite not being required to; seen in February 2020

Hurtful: Vanessa said that she did still try to work things out with her mom. ‘Because I did not give in to her hurtful threats and monetary requests, she has spiraled out of control and is making false and absurd claims,’ she wrote

Vanessa added in her post that she had still been voluntarily supporting her mother, despite not being required to.

‘Earlier this year, I was looking for a new home for her and, a week later, she went on television and gave an interview disparaging our family and making false accusations while living rent-free in a gated apartment complex in Newport Coast. 

‘Even after that betrayal, I was willing to provide my mother with monthly support for the rest of her life and that wasn’t good enough. She instead contacted me through intermediaries (contrary to what she claims, my phone number hasn’t changed) and demanded $5 million, a house and a Mercedes SUV.  

‘Because I did not give in to her hurtful threats and monetary requests, she has spiraled out of control and is making false and absurd claims. She is now trying to get more money than my husband and I ever spent to provide for her while he was alive,’ she wrote.

Going too far: ‘She is now trying to get more money than my husband and I ever spent to provide for her while he was alive,’ she wrote; Vanessa and Kobe pictured in 2018 at the Oscars