  Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley are duking it out in court and in the studio. (WENN.COM file photo)
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LOS ANGELES — There’s nothing like an acrimonious divorce to kill the music mojo.
Avril Lavigne’s fourth album, being produced by soon-to-be ex husband Deryck Whibley, was supposed to be released last November. Now Lavigne is saying the release is expected in “early 2010.”
But a source says it could be more like mid-2010 because the two young Canadians who moved to Hollywood four years ago, got married and then separated, can’t stand working with one another and are finding it “terribly frustrating” to finish the last few songs.
It was Lavigne, 25, who filed for divorce in September after three years of marriage to the 29-year-old Sum 41 musician, citing irreconcilable differences.
Things heated up in November when Whibley’s lawyer insisted that spousal support be included in the agreement, but Lavigne’s attorney countered she wouldn’t pay it.
The gloves are off in court — superstar Lavigne, who also has a fashion line, is worth lots and lots of dough that will have to be, under California law, divided fairly with Whibley as he has played a key role in her career.
“The uglier it gets in court, the uglier it gets in the studio,” said the source, a music agent who knows the couple. “The first eight songs, Avril and Deryck worked with a lot of love and it came easy. But there’s three or four more to do and they just ain’t feeling it.”
The pair are trying to come up with a compromise production schedule to get the acoustic album, tentatively titled Pink Crust, to market.
“It’ll be a terrific album if they can put this aside for a month or so and concentrate on what matters — the music,” said the source.
Meanwhile, as Whibley publicly squires different young models and actresses to various Hollywood hotspots, Lavigne is reportedly getting close to Latino actor Wilmer Valderrama, creator and host of the reality TV show Yo Momma, and who famously broke actress Lindsay Lohan’s heart.
