Hunter Biden has reached a settlement in an Arkansas child-support case involving Lunden Roberts, a former exotic dancer, in which he agreed to financially support their four-year-old daughter but succeeded in his effort to deprive the child of his last name.
The president’s son agreed to financially support their daughter until the age of 18, contribute to the creation of a college education fund, and provide an undisclosed number of his paintings for potential sale.
“The child shall select the painting which shall either be sent to the child or sent to a gallery designated by Lunden Roberts,” the court filing released on Thursday reads, noting that they will “vary in size with a minimum size of 24 by 24.”
“The net proceeds of any sales of paintings shall be wired to an account designated by Lunden Roberts.”
As part of the compromise, Roberts will drop her demand to have her daughter use the Biden last name. Roberts’s attorneys filed a motion in December asking to change her child’s last name to Biden, writing that “The Biden name is now synonymous with being well-educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful.” Biden’s attorneys argued that the name would actually be a burden to the child.
Roberts insisted in court filings published in April that Hunter “has never seen or contacted” their daughter and that both President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden “remain estranged.”
President Biden has never acknowledged his grandchild and has repeatedly excluded her when referring to the number of grandchildren he has.
Biden met Roberts at the Mpire Gentlemen’s Club in Washington, D.C., in 2017. Their daughter was born in August 2018, and Roberts filed a paternity suit in May 2019 following Hunter’s objections that the child was not his. In 2020, the court-ordered paternity test revealed that Biden was the father of the child “with scientific certainty.”
Following the discovery, the president’s son agreed to pay $20,000 a month in child support to Roberts. The case was reopened after Biden asked to reduce his monthly payments given that there had been "a substantial change" in his financial circumstances, according to his attorneys.
The deal comes just weeks before Biden was slated to appear in Batesville, Ark., to hammer out whether alimony payments to Roberts could be reduced.
The presiding judge, Holly Meyer, considered holding a hearing to determine whether Biden was in contempt of court for inadequately addressing details concerning his finances. A finding of civil or criminal contempt could have seen Biden receive up to six months in jail until he fully answered the court's questions.
The settlement permits Biden to sidestep the thorny issue of disclosing his financial situation, which many Republicans were eager to see publicized.
The deal comes just days after Biden agreed to a plea deal with the Department of Justice after failing to pay his tax for two consecutive years and illegally possessing a firearm.
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