Hunter Biden settles Arkansas child support case

By Marshall Cohen

(CNN) — Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has settled his child support case in Arkansas, reaching an agreement with the mother of one of his children and resolving a dispute that became a legal headache for him in recent months.

The settlement was announced in a court filing Thursday in Arkansas state court.

Coupled with his impending guilty plea to federal tax offenses, it appears that the president’s son is taking significant steps to put to rest some of his long-simmering legal entanglements. However, the legal resolutions won’t end the political drama surrounding Hunter Biden, the White House, Republican lawmakers and GOP presidential contenders.

The child support case began as a paternity dispute in 2019, after Lunden Roberts, an Arkansas woman, gave birth to a girl and claimed Hunter Biden was the father. He denied paternity, but after a DNA test confirmed that he was the father, he eventually agreed in 2020 to pay $20,000-a-month in child support.

Hunter Biden was seeking to reduce the monthly payments. It’s not clear from the court filings what his new payments will be – that information is redacted.

As part of the deal, Hunter Biden will give some of his paintings to his daughter, who can either keep some of her choosing or keep the money from any sales of these paintings. As part of his recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, Hunter Biden has taken up painting, but his art sales have created lingering ethics questions for the White House.

Roberts is also dropping her bid to change the girl’s last name to “Biden,” according to the court filing.

Hunter Biden reopened the case last year, citing his changed financial situation and a sizable drop in income. This was a risky move because it gave Roberts and her attorneys – who are well-known GOP activists and supporters of former President Donald Trump – an opportunity to seek a wide array of Hunter Biden’s financial records.

They sought information about his taxes, overseas business deals and financial transactions within the Biden family. These records have also been of keen interest to House Republicans, who have spent months looking for evidence to corroborate their claims that Joe Biden was involved in corrupt deals with his son.

By settling the child support case, Hunter Biden appears to have staved off an upcoming contempt hearing in Arkansas, where he could’ve possibly faced fines or maybe even jail if a judge believed he stonewalled Roberts’ attempts to obtain his financial data. A trial to determine whether to adjust the child support had been scheduled for late July.

In court filings in April, Roberts said Hunter Biden “has never seen or contacted” his four-year-old daughter and that President Biden and first lady Jill Biden “remain estranged” from their grandchild.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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