The actress, who is best known for her role in long-running TV comedy My Name is Earl about an apparently reformed petty crook, has filed a lawsuit against Daniel Rivero, claiming he is responsible for errors which have left her owing over $850,000 (£559,000) in back income taxes, while she has also lost $170,000 (£112,000) in faulty investments on his advice.

In addition,  Pressly is said to have told a US news website she is ‘furious’ that  Rivero paid a landscaper  $220,000 (£144,700) for gardening services on what she says is her modest suburban Los Angeles home over the course of five years.

Accounting worries are adding to Pressly’s recent woes as the actress has heard that the latest sitcom in which she took the lead role, called Jennifer Falls, has been cancelled by the studio. In it, Pressly starred as a career woman and mother who is forced to move back in with her own mother after losing a high-paying job – a role which she may feel could mirror real life if her financial problems are not sorted out.