Serena Williams' childhood home where she learned to play tennis will be seized to settle her stepmom's $600K debt - as years-long bankruptcy battle nears conclusion

Serena and Venus Williams' childhood home where she learned to play tennis will be seized to settle her stepmom's $600,000 in debt after her bankruptcy bid failed.

It is the latest development in a years-long legal saga surrounding Williams' estranged step-mother, Lakeisha Williams, and the $1.4million Palm Beach home. 

The former stripper racked up the debt on a failed trucking business and 'fast food and frivolities', according to legal papers seen by The Sun, after separating from the tennis stars' father, Richard Williams, in 2017. 

She repeatedly filed for bankruptcy to avoid paying the debts but her last bid has failed meaning the Williams' childhood home is set to be sold to pay it all off. 

The now-crumbling four bedroom, 10-acre plot has a tennis court in the garden where Richard trained his daughters.  

Serena Williams ' childhood home where she learned to play tennis will be seized to settle her stepmom's $600k debts 

It is the latest development in a years-long legal saga surrounding Williams' estranged step-mother, Lakeisha Williams

Richard, who has suffered several strokes and is battling dementia, moved third-wife Lakeisha into his then palatial home in a rural part of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after they wed in 2009.

But the couple – who have son a Dylan – split in 2017. Williams then filed for divorce accusing his wife of 'stealing' the house, forging his signature to have his name removed from the property records, leaving just her name on the paperwork.

Lakeisha stayed in the house after they split, but the home fell into foreclosure in 2021 after court action initiated by Miami mortgage lender David Simon. 

She has since filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy to delay the foreclosure three times, all of the bids have now failed. 

Lakeisha has consistently missed a $10,000-a-month repayment plan owed to the lender Simon, with the debt hitting a maximum of $620,000. 

Now judge Mindy Mora has reportedly dismissed her third bankruptcy bid without prejudice, meaning she will lose court protection and the house will be sold, 

The majority of the proceeds of the sale will go towards paying of her debt to Simon, with some of the money split between 20 other creditors. 

Richard Williams, 80, married his 37-years-younger third wife Lakeisha Williams in 2009. They split in 2017 and have a nine-year-old son, Dylan

The home is where 'King' Richard turned his daughters Venus and Serena into tennis champions. Pictured in 1991 

Richard bought the house in 1995 for $355,000 with Venus and Serena's mom, ex-wife Oracene Price, as a training camp for the eventual stars.

He had two tennis courts built and relentlessly drilled his then-teenage daughters to sports stardom with his one-man coaching mission. Williams and Oracene divorced in 2002.

In 2022 bankruptcy filings seen by DailyMail.com, among other debts, Lakeisha said she owes the Palm Beach County Tax Collector $2,697.55 for 2021 property taxes and the IRS $7,600.

Lakeisha also listed total assets of $682,923.43 according to the papers.

Of that, $588,197 is the house which she declared is the 'current value of the entire property', although real estate websites value it around $1.4million.

Despite all the debts and appeal for financial clemency, Lakeisha listed her monthly income as $15,972.93.

This consists of $9,671.73 reported under net income from rental property or a business, $5,500 from 'family support payments' and $801 from Social Security.

Her monthly expenses are listed as a far more modest $2,542, so leaving her with $13,430.73 according to the documents.

Lakeisha's reported income sits in stark contrast to her apparent financial woes and the dilapidated condition of Williams' formerly magnificent home where she still lives. 

DailyMail.com visited the sprawling pile in 2022, set at the end of a tracked road in an exclusive community dominated by large and immaculate equestrian properties, it immediately looks out of place.

Instead of the pristine property boundaries maintained by neighbors, the entrance has a chipped metal gate and ramshackle dirty white fencing.

Two ponds are either side of the dirt driveway, a plastic chair dumped in one of them.

The once-imposing white double front door now has significant rust, while the building's gable above them is falling apart.

Lakeisha stayed in the house after her own split with Williams. But the home fell into foreclosure in 2021 after court action initiated by Miami mortgage lender David Simon and was due to be auctioned off on February 18 this year 

Lakeisha says the couple have been back together since August 2019 and since then there has been 'no discovery, no mediation and no real activity' in the divorce proceedings 

Clearly seen from the front of the house, the tennis courts where Serena, 40, and Venus, 41, honed their astonishing talents, are a sad spectacle.

They are surrounded by overgrown grass and only one appears to be playable. Even that has rusting floodlights and a net that is drooping and torn.

A neighbor we spoke to pointed over to the house and said: 'It would never be in that condition if Richard was still there. He adored that place.'

The neighbor added: 'Richard is a wonderful man. I wouldn't hear a word said against him. We were neighbors for many years. Serena and Venus were just kids to me, not superstars.' 

A previous bid by Lakeisha to declare Chapter 13 bankruptcy, in 2021, failed because the home was deemed uninsurable due to the need for a new roof.