Hunter Biden may find himself facing higher child support payments after a judge’s recent ruling, which comes amid scrutiny over his reportedly extravagant lifestyle. Previously, Biden had claimed financial hardship to reduce these payments.
An Arkansas judge has now mandated that the 56-year-old son of President Joe Biden disclose his tax records and financial situation to address ongoing litigation with Lunden Roberts, the mother of his seven-year-old daughter, Navy. This decision is part of a protracted legal dispute between the two parties.
The judge has further instructed Biden to undergo a sworn deposition with Roberts’ legal team, as she seeks to increase the current $5,000 monthly child support payments.
According to the New York Post, Roberts’ attorney, Clint Lancaster, argued in court this week that Biden has been concealing the true extent of his wealth, asserting that his lifestyle is far more opulent than previously portrayed.
Lancaster pointed to Biden’s California home, described as a mansion with ocean views, as evidence that he is capable of providing more substantial support for his daughter.
The attorney also cited Biden’s international travel, dining at upscale restaurants, and vacations in Nantucket with his father, the former president, as further indicators of his financial capacity.
Hunter previously claimed he was struggling financially when he settled on the $5,000 child support payments with Roberts in 2023, offering at the time to give Navy his artwork as a compromise to bring the number down.
Hunter’s fight to pay less child support even once saw him claim to have ‘no recollection’ of ever meeting Roberts, before the Daily Mail revealed that records from his infamous laptop showed he employed her at his firm.
Hunter Biden’s flaunting of his lavish lifestyle may mean he has to pay more in child support to his ex-stripper baby mama after he previously cried poverty to reduce the amount
Former stripper Lunden Roberts, 34, previously reached a settlement with Hunter in 2023 for him to pay $5,000 a month in child support payments and to provide their daughter Navy, 7, with his artwork
The former exotic dancer was also demanding monthly child support payments of $20,000, but eventually lowered her demands to $5,000 to settle the case
The attorney for the former stripper, who met Hunter in a Washington DC strip club in 2017, argued that Biden’s California mansion (pictured) ‘overlooking the ocean’ was evidence that he could stump up more for their child
In response to Roberts’ latest attempt to raise the child support payments, Hunter’s attorney Brent Langdon said the 56-year-old is still living in the same home that he was in when they reached the previous settlement in 2023.
‘I just don’t think going out to dinner is a support for modification of child support when you are already paying… at least double the amount, that under child support guidelines, you should be paying,’ Langdon said in hearings this week, per the Post.
The hearings concluded with a judge ruling that Roberts can look at Biden’s recent tax records, and ordered the former First Son to sit for a deposition with her attorneys.
The child support case in 2023 centered around Roberts’ attempts to have Navy adopt the Biden family name, to which Hunter was opposed.
The former exotic dancer was also demanding monthly child support payments of $20,000, but eventually lowered her demands to $5,000 to settle the case.
Roberts re-opened the case in January, and argued in court documents that her seven-year-old daughter has started to recognize that she is far worse off than Hunter’s other four children.
In filings at the time, Roberts attempted to hold Hunter in contempt of court for failing to provide his artwork, as she requested a raise in the child support payments.
In a callous response, Hunter argued that it was irrelevant that his daughter was not part of his life, saying that he had never agreed to do so.
Hunter’s artwork (pictured) once sold for upwards of $500,000 per piece, before plummeting in value when his father left the White House
Roberts re-opened her hostile custody case with Hunter in January, and tried to have him held in contempt of court for not providing his artwork to his daughter
Roberts, 34, previously reached a settlement with Hunter in 2023 for him to pay $5,000 a month in child support payments and to provide their daughter Navy, 7, with his artwork
Hunter, seen with his wife Melissa Cohen in May, previously said in court filings that he had no obligation to ever meet his estranged daughter Navy because he never agreed to do so
‘Any failure to communicate with the Child is not punishable by contempt, as the Order does not order Defendant to communicate with the Child,’ Biden’s lawyer, Brent Langdon, wrote in court documents.
Hunter also argued that his failure to hand over his artwork – which once sold for upwards of $500,000 before plummeting in value when his father left the White House – does not violate the order, because he never agreed a date by which he had to give them to his daughter.
‘Even if no paintings had been given to the Child to date, such would not violate the Order, because as long as thirty paintings are assigned to the Child by Defendant will have complied with the Order,’ the response filing said.
In his latest hearings this week, a judge also rejected Roberts’ requests to hold Biden in contempt of court.
Langdon said Hunter has sent 10 artworks to Navy, and another 47 pieces were already in the process of being transferred to his daughter.
The judge also agreed with Hunter’s assertion that he does not need to have contact with his daughter, saying: ‘Failure to communicate is not going to be grounds for contempt… Those are choices that Mr. Biden has made, and he is free to make.’
‘I’ve been doing divorces and custody for many years now, and I cannot make someone communicate with their child or be a parent in the emotional, supportive sense of the word,’ the judge said.
The Daily Mail has contacted attorneys for Biden and Roberts for comment.
