Child support is when the court orders a payment made by a non-custodial parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or relationship. The basis of child support is the feeling that both parents should be obliged to financially support their children despite the various living arrangements; children should not suffer at the expense of their parents. The amount of child support owed usually takes into multiple sources of information: income of parents, ages of children, living expenses and school fees. The needs of the individual children are assessed and taken into consideration to award reasonable child support.
However, this does not seem to be the case when it comes to the child support that Halle Berry owes to the fathers of her daughter and her son. Halle Berry is reported to owe both fathers $16,000 a month in child support. That’s a total of $32,000 in child support per month. Despite Halle having joint custody with both her children, $16,000 a month for each child may sound a bit drastic when you consider child support should be used to support the children only. When you look at the average child support payment of being $430, that $16,000 seems even more dear. Yes, it is well known that Halle Berry has an extraordinary net worth, however at what point is the line drawn to not aid the other parent and only the child. By awarding the fathers $16,000 a month, isn’t that saying the cost for raising that child is nearly $200,000 per year. Considering in 2019 the average American income for a family of four was $68,000, it would make you wonder how other families are able to raise children at all.
One of the main arguments to justify this amount would be that Halle Berry’s children should have the same privileges when their fathers have custody as when Halle Berry has custody. So it makes one wonder if some of this $16,000 a month goes to private schooling or to pay the nanny to help with the child or towards dining out in expensive restaurants and taking extravagant trips that the child may be accustomed to. Before opinions are made if the $16,000 per month is excessive, it would be interesting to hear how this $16,000 per month is being spent on the child. It is true, some parents do need the help of child support to raise their children as a child should never suffer due to the parental relationships not working. What is too much per month to raise a child. It is true that the parent that has the most to offer financially to help raise the children should contribute more, be it the father or the mother. When the situations arise that the father has a large net worth and the mother has an even larger net worth, at what point should the parents not worry about the child support and support what is needed for their child because it is their child.