How much support is enough when a child theoretically has everything?
An example would be the obligation of rap star, 50 cent. According to articles in New York and Chicago newspapers, the rapper presently pays $25,000 per month for the support of his 10 year old son. Now that he hit the jackpot as an investor in Coke’s buy-out of the parent company of Vitamin Water (to the tune of $100 million dollars), the mother of the child wants more. Could it be possible that $25,000 per month is not enough to raise the child????
In Pennsylvania, there is a 1993 Superior Court case out of Pittsburgh which addressed certain aspects of this issue, Branch v. Jackson, 629 A.2d 170 (1993). In that case, the father of a child born out of wedlock, who was a professional football player, argued that since the child always had resided with Mother, in a modest lifestyle, her expenses should be the determining factor, not what he could afford.
The Superior Court did not agree, and held that where a father is wealthy, and although the mother may indirectly benefit, the child was entitled to support “commensurate with his Father’s income and lifestyle”.
That does not answer the original question of how much is enough, but the Branch case does offer guidance for lawyers and litigants in Pennsylvania courts.