Strahan To Pay Less Child Support
The state appeals court in New York has reversed a lower court’s ruling on child support paid by Michael Strahan. The former New York Giant was paying approximately $18,000 a month in support for his twin daughters, but the higher court has ruled the lower court should have modified that amount due to the extraordinary expenses sought by his former wife.
According to the AP, Strahan’s ex-wife, Jean, claimed the daughters needed a $27,000 clothing allowance, because the 3 year olds need new outfits everytime they see their father. She also included extravagent gifts to the children’s grandmother and nanny (including a Jamaican vacation for the nanny).
The court also ruled Strahan does not have to pay approximately $14,000 for his former wife’s legal fees.
The couple married in 1999 but finalized their bitter divorce in 2007. During the divorce, Strahan was accused of abusing his former wife. Initially the court ruled he had to pay his ex-wife $15 million but he appealed and the parties settled for a lesser amount.
There seems to be a trend with courts taking a harder look at what custodial parents claim they need for child support. The problem that multi-millionaires face when they are subject to child support is they earn so much more than the average person that it seems unfair that their child should live a lifestyle radically different than the parent they are not living with. For example, if your dad earns $10 million a year playing football, should you have to go to public school and live in a bad neighborhood just becuase you live with your mom? The flip side of the argument is, child support should not be a means of support for the custodial parent. And clearly, it’s hard to see how a three year old could possibly cost $18,000 a month. To try to work around this, you can sometimes agree that the non-custodial parent will pay the private school tuition directly to the school, or set up a college trust fund.