President Joe Biden’s son has reached a settlement in an Arkansas civil court over a paternity and child support case involving the four-year-old daughter of a woman named Lunden Roberts.
In a deal reached on June 16 and filed with the Arkansas court on Thursday, June 29, Roberts and Hunter Biden agreed to reduce his child support payments to the mother of his daughter.
Biden had been paying about $20,000 a month for the child since the Spring of 2020. The portion of the court filing specifying his new child support statement is redacted.
Biden’s child support payments will continue until the earliest occurrence of any of the following events:
- The child [reaches] the age of 18, provided that, if the child is fully enrolled in an accredited secondary school in a program leading toward a high school diploma, the periodic payments shall continue to be due and paid until the end of month in which the child graduates;
- The child marries;
- The child dies;
- The child’s disabilities are otherwise removed for general purposes;
- The child is otherwise emancipated; or
- Further order of the Court modifying this child support.
While reaching a deal to reduce the specific dollar amount of his child support payments, Biden has also agreed to give the child a certain portion of the proceeds of the sales of his paintings. Details of the exact portion of these proceeds going to the child and for how long were also redacted.
Proceeds from the paintings could significantly complement the child support payments. In 2021, Politico reported a New York City art gallery valued Biden’s paintings at between $75,000 and $500,000.
He also previously agreed to reimburse Roberts for health insurance costs for the child and will continue to do so under their new agreement. The parents have also agreed to “discuss” providing a college education fund for their child within the next five years.
Biden had initially denied being the child’s father, but Arkansas Circuit Judge Holly Meyer ruled in January 2020 that DNA tests “indicate with near scientific certainty that the defendant is the biological father of the child in this case.” Meyer declared him to be the father during that January 2020 ruling and ordered: “The Arkansas Department of Health shall issue a new or substituted birth certificate listing Lunden Alexis Roberts as the mother and Robert Hunter Biden as the father.”
As part of the new agreement, Roberts also withdrew her bid to have the child’s last name changed to Biden.
While the daughter of Roberts and Biden is one of Joe Biden’s seven grandchildren, the president has avoided acknowledging her existence.
During a set of remarks on April 27 for “Take Your Child to Work Day,” the president said, “I have six grandchildren. And I’m crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day.” The elder Biden then named and described each of his grandchildren except Roberts’s daughter.
In an April court filing, Roberts said Hunter Biden “has never seen or contacted” their daughter and that the president and First Lady Jill Biden “remain estranged” from their grandchild, CNN reported.
Biden’s settlement in the case over his child comes a week after he reached a plea deal in an unrelated federal criminal case. U.S. Attorney David Weiss informed a Delaware federal court that he planned to charge Biden with willful failure to file his taxes for two years and possession of a firearm “by a person unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance,” which is illegal.
Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts for the tax filing issues. He also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program for the gun charge, which would allow him to get the charge dismissed if he completes the diversion program.