Family Law

San Jose Divorce Attorney Discusses Child Support for the Rich

By Scott Sagaria

Almost everyday in the news we hear about some celebrity divorcing which means there is child support to be paid. Unfortunately for Tracy McGrady he will be spending his time this season in both the basketball family courts. As a Houston Rockets guard and Adidas spokesman McGrady earns a $20 million dollar annual salary. In case you were wondering what that works out to its $10,803.00 per hour at a day job. Generally child support calculations are based on a party?s income but McGrady is arguing that his income is too high for the standard calculations.

At issue is how much child support he should pay for a 2 year old daughter born out of wedlock. The child?s mother is requesting about $204,000.00 per year in child support but McGrady wants to pay $54,000.00 per year. The standard child support formulas put support at $720,000.00 per year. McGrady is arguing that the child?s mother does not need that much money to raise the child but the child?s mother is arguing that the child should have an equivalent lifestyle to McGrady?s two children who live with him and his wife. For example one of McGrady?s other children recently had a $16,000.00 birthday party for about 40 friends and the children frequently travel on private jets to exotic places where they stay at Ritz-Carltons. In addition his other children routinely spend thousands of dollars per month on clothing.

In California the law does state that children should share in the standard of living of both parents. Of course the issue in high earning cases is how much money does a child really need for support and maintenance. Our attorneys at Sagaria Law are experienced in all aspects of child support cases and we have offices in San Jose, Fremont and Monterey to assist you with your child support cases.

Full post as published by California Family Law Blog on December 10, 2007 (boomark / email).