Jesse Jackson Jr. agrees to pay alimony to estranged wife Sandi Jackson

April 27--Ex-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has agreed to pay his estranged wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, $1,200 a month in temporary alimony starting in June, a court document filed Thursday shows.

A proposed order setting out the payments was signed by attorneys for both Jacksons and won't take effect unless a judge signs off. The case is back in court Friday, just days after his attorney vehemently objected to her side's lengthy questioning on matters including the name, phone number and address of every sex partner besides her during their roughly 25-year marriage.

Now, after months of sometimes bitter and public wrangling, an alimony agreement could signal the couple might be moving toward burying the hatchet. Another sign of a possible truce: A plan for a hearing about alimony that could have lasted two days has been dropped. Instead, attorneys asked for a perfunctory status hearing on Friday, court documents show.

If approved, the alimony would come on top of $1,529 a month Jackson Jr. pays in child support for their children, ages 17 and 13. Under the proposed order, Jackson Jr., 52, also would keep paying his children's private school tuition and for health insurance for his wife and children, at least for now.

Meantime, Sandi Jackson, 53, has set aside a request that he pick up her attorney fees, the proposed order says. She has been rebuffed since November in her bid for alimony. Her attorney has said she was behind on bills and borrowing from friends and selling belongings to get by.

Sandi Jackson lives in Washington and wanted the divorce heard there. Jackson Jr. lives in Chicago and had wanted the dissolution of the marriage handled there, but this week he moved to dismiss the Cook County case.

Once a Democratic power couple, the two fell from grace and resigned their offices before pleading guilty to federal charges in 2013. He admitted misusing about $750,000 in campaign cash and she acknowledged failing to report much of the money on income taxes. Both served time in prison.

It emerged in the divorce case that he is collecting about $138,400 a year, about $100,000 in workers' comp and the rest of it Social Security Disability Insurance payments. He has bipolar disorder and depression, his attorney said.

Jackson Jr. will be represented by his attorney but will not attend Friday's hearing, said Brendan Hammer, his Chicago attorney.

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