(RNS) — The Rev. William J. Barber II’s ex-wife has asked a judge to look into allegations that the civil rights and anti-poverty leader has been paying her alimony from the finances of his nonprofit.
Barber, who has been leading “Moral Mondays at the Capitol” to oppose the federal budget bill and was arrested as part of those demonstrations last month, is president of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit social change organization based in North Carolina.
In a court filing in in Durham County, North Carolina, Rebecca Barber, the preacher’s ex-wife, alleges that since November 2023, Repairers of the Breach has issued William Barber monthly checks for $7,000 to a joint personal bank account shared by Barber and his ex-wife, “under the guise of alimony or financial support.” Rebecca Barber alleges this check is above and beyond Barber’s annual salary. She asked that Repairers of the Breach be treated as a third party — like another spouse — in the Barbers’ ongoing dispute over property division.
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Barber divorced his wife of 37 years in November 2024 after separating in 2022. The couple went through mediation to settle parts of the divorce, including alimony, in a process called equitable distribution. But the mediation failed.
Rebecca Barber then filed the motion to add Repairers of the Breach as a third party defendant.
“Defendant contends that Repairers of the Breach, Inc. is functionally an alter ego of Plaintiff and may possess or control assets that are marital in nature or otherwise relevant to this Court’s equitable distribution determination,” reads the motion filed on May 14.
During their marriage, the couple had four children and also raised a daughter from William Barber’s prior relationship.
Beginning in 1993, Barber served as pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, from which he built a national following advocating for the poor. He served as president of the North Carolina state conference of the NAACP from 2005 until 2017. But he may be best known for reviving the Poor People’s Campaign, an anti-poverty effort bearing the name and the goals of the movement launched by Martin Luther King Jr. shortly before his assassination. Barber has preached at several Democratic National Conventions and delivered the homily at President Joe Biden’s inauguration prayer service in 2021.
In 2023, Barber took a position as founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He divorced his wife, a psychiatric nurse, the following year.
On May 3, he married the Rev. Della Owens in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Owens had served as an associate pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church and now pastors St. James Church in Wilson, North Carolina, a Disciples of Christ congregation, like Greenleaf. She previously worked for Repairers of the Breach providing Barber security and serving as his driver. In 2022, he presided over Owens’ installation service as pastor.
A spokesperson for Barber, Brian Woolfolk, told RNS that Barber denies the allegations and believes they are “false,” “unfounded,” and “without merit.”
Repairers of the Breach, the 10-year-old organization Barber founded, has hired a lawyer from the prominent North Carolina firm of Parker Poe to investigate the claim.
