On tonight’s episode of Love After Lockup: Life After Lockup, Brittany and Marcelino Santiago visit their attorney Chris Ford to inquire about the possibility of Brittany being able to track down her two oldest children, which were taken from her by CPS when she was a teen and placed for adoption. Chris is pretty straight forward about how difficult the process will probably be given that the children were taken from Brittany by the state, and Marcelino was daunted.
“We thought the custody battle for Giovanni was going to be an uphill tredge, but it looks like this will be a lot more — a lot more hoops to go through,” Marcelino says in the meeting with the lawyer. He continues in a solo interview filmed later for the cameras:
This might be a two-year, three-year, four-year process. There are certain limitations to how much money can go out every month. We have another baby on the way, a $30,000 bill from the lawyer, and right now I’ve been on a little bit of a downswing as far as poker.
Marcelino’s poker downswing must have continued because the amount of money that could go out every month to pay off his and Brittany’s sizable attorney fee was apparently little to nothing. Chris Ford and his law firm Ford & Friedman filed a lien against Brittany late last month for well over $20,000 in unpaid legal fees!
From the filing:
NOTICE OF ATTORNEY’S LIEN AND LIEN
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned attorneys claim a lien for their services upon the claim for relief in the above-entitled cause and upon any verdict, judgment, decree of settlement entered in favor of Defendant, Brittany Dodd, now known as Brittany Santiago (hereinafter “Defendant”). The undersigned attorneys further claim a lien on all interpled funds and upon any other funds that may be available to the Defendant through the above-entitled actions. Said claim is for reasonable compensation in the amount of TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT DOLLARS AND SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS ($22,148.75) as of January 22, 2020, including both attorney’s fees and costs. No part of said amount has been paid. This lien is filed pursuant to NRS 18.015.
DATED this 23 day of January, 2020.
We’ve seen pay stubs for the first season of Love after Lockup: Life After Lockup from one of the ex-convict cast members, which indicate he/she was paid $3,000 per episode. That rate probably went up for Season 2, and it’s important to note that the convict’s significant other is more than likely paid the same.
That would equate to Marcelino and Brittany bringing home more than $6,000 per episode, and there are reportedly going to be ten episodes. For those who really hate math, that would equate to more than $60,000 for the couple for the current season.
It is our understanding, based in large part on the dates for the pay stubs, that the cast members get paid when the editing on the episodes are done. That would mean that Marcelino and Brittany have probably already been paid for a large part of the current season. I am not 100% confident on that though.
Regardless, having one baby and another on the way with a $22,000 legal bill hanging over their heads is not a good situation to be in for the Santiagos if Life After Lockup is their only source of income. Brittany has reportedly written a book, but I can’t imagine that will bring in a lot of money, even if it is relatively successful. She also receives a little more than $700 a month in child support for her son Giovanni.
Speaking of Giovanni, a positive note for Marcelino and Brittany is that the money they didn’t have to pay their legal costs was well spent. They had a very clear victory in the custody battle against Giovanni’s dad Tito after Tito failed a drug test. The next hearing is scheduled for early March, however, and it’s unclear how difficult it will be for Brittany to obtain legal counsel given the current lien against her.
Stay tuned!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
