Terrence Howard is gonna have to fork over close to $1 million in back spousal support ... that's if his ex-wife gets her way in court.
Terrence's ex-wife, Michelle Ghent, filed legal docs asking the court to make the "Empire" star cut her a check for at least $909,418 in back spousal support ... claiming Terrence has been dragging his feet since he lost an appeal about the issue back in October.
In docs, obtained by TMZ, Michelle says she's spent at least $820k in legal fees to get Terrence to pay up, so she wants him to also pony up that dough for her lawyers. What's more ... Michelle wants a judge to get Terrence to stop dodging the tab ... claiming he's essentially hiding his "Empire" money. She claims he's made almost $9.7 million for "Empire" over the last 5 years, so it's only fair he pay up.
The judge will decide how much Terrence has to pay in a September hearing.
TMZ broke the story ... Michelle appealed and won when a judge overturned a prior ruling saying Terrence didn't have to pay spousal support.