Hunter Biden is approaching judgment day in a lawsuit in Arkansas to cut his child support and stop his daughter from taking his last name.
The president’s son faces a deposition this month and a trial in July against a woman, Lunden Roberts, who had his daughter on August 28, 2018. Biden was ordered in March 2020 to pay child support , but he asked in September 2022 to reduce the amount. due to his changing income, which led to the ongoing lawsuit.
Another point of contention concerns the name of the child. Roberts wants the child to carry Biden’s last name because of the family’s political prominence and business success, but he opposes it because of the “political warfare” it might face.
The case is just one of the legal challenges facing Hunter Biden, who has become a lightning rod for congressional Republicans investigating how he might sway President Joe Biden. House Republicans are investigating whether Hunter Biden was rewarded for influencing the administration through lucrative business deals or art sales, allegations he and the White House have denied.
Here’s what we know about the case:
What’s disputed in Hunter Biden’s paternity case?
Roberts filed the case in May 2019 to determine Biden’s paternity and obtain child support. Biden initially resisted, but his paternity was established in January 2020. A child support settlement was reached under a “final” order in March 2020, retroactive to November 2018.
But Biden revived the case by asking to reduce the amount of child support he was paying. His lawyer, Brent Langdon, cited “a substantial material change” in his financial situation.
During a hearing in May, attorney Abbe Lowell revealed that Biden was paying $20,000 a month in child support for a total of $750,000.
Roberts’ lawyers, Clinton Lancaster and Jennifer Lancaster, opposed the move, citing trade deals in Ukraine and China, and House Republicans art sales are investigating. The lawyers noted that Biden was paying multiple attorneys, including Lowell for $855 an hour and others who represent “Hollywood’s elite,” to represent him in congressional investigations and now in the paternity case.
“However, voluntary reduction of income or concealment of assets does not justify reduction of support,” Clinton Lancaster wrote.
Independence County Circuit Judge Holly Meyer has set June 13-16 dates for Hunter Biden and others to file depositions in the case ahead of the trial scheduled for July.
What’s in a name?
After Biden asked to reopen the child support discussion, Roberts filed his motion in December to change the child’s last name, whose initials are NJR, to Biden.
Her attorneys said the girl deserved the name Biden because the name “is now synonymous with being well educated, successful, having financial resources and being politically powerful.” Hunter Biden is “an extremely successful businessman”, a “powerful lobbyist” and “apparently, a famous entertainer”, according to the filing. The girl’s grandparents are the President and First Lady.
But Biden opposed the change, with his attorney saying Roberts was pursuing “a political war against the defendant and his family.” Langdon said Roberts had disparaged the Biden family in other documents and that “notoriety would undoubtedly rob the child of a peaceful existence.”
And after?
Biden and Roberts have clashed in recent months over expert witnesses and evidence exchanges in the case.
One of the mother experts, Garrett Ziegler, repeatedly discusses Hunter Biden on TV. He produced a 644-page report on Hunter Biden’s laptop, which became the focus of Republican congressional investigations into his finances. His nonprofit, Marco Polo, parked a truck with the message “BidenCrimes.info” in front of the White House, the Justice Department and Congress.
Biden’s lawyers tried to block Ziegler from being an expert witness, but the court allowed it.
One of Biden’s attorneys, Kevin Morris, sued Ziegler and Marco Polo in California Superior Court, alleging harassment and invasion of privacy for exposing his contact information, posting photos of his loved ones and addresses of properties he owned. ‘he owns.
Ziegler and Marco Polo have denied the allegations and argued that the public interest outweighs Morris’ privacy concerns.
Lowell wrote to the Internal Revenue Service challenging Marco Polo’s nonprofit status for engaging in political activity.
The White House and congressional Democrats questioned the legitimacy of some information purporting to come from the laptop and called the investigations hyperpartisan. Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, called the GOP investigations “politically motivated stunts.”
And after?
The case drags on because the first judge, Circuit Judge Don McSpadden, had warned the participants against it.
The first part of the case, before the settlement of paternity and child support, has been postponed for several months. In March 2020, Judge Meyer denied a request by Biden to postpone the case until after the 2020 election as “excessive” because “interest in his person will continue.”
After the case revives, the deposition could be an opportunity for Roberts’ lawyers to ask Biden about his income from overseas business ventures and the sale of his listed art for up to $500,000. .
Lawyers for the mother have accused Hunter Biden of “playing geese uncovered” by not cooperating before trial.
“Biden won’t disclose his income and assets, says he’s somewhat financially deprived, as he lives on a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, enjoys Secret Service protection and enjoys his time overseas,” a May filing said.
Roberts’ lawyers asked in January 2020 for the second time to hold Biden in contempt — which did not happen — for failing to provide his addresses for him and his wife, phone numbers for both, documentation of its income and any property of the business.
But Hunter Biden’s lawyers said he provided 2,279 pages of financial documents and an affidavit of financial means. His attorneys said Biden “in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the defendant in an effort to avoid legal action.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden paternity case: Fight hinges on money owed, last name