Singer Marc Anthony’s ex-wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, wants a huge increase in child support for their two sons.
Reportedly, the Puerto Rican beauty queen who divorced Marc Anthony in 2004 after a rocky four-year marriage, petitioned a Los Angeles Family Court for a $100,000 increase in monthly child support payments.
Spanish-language publication ‘Primera Hora’ recently contacted Yukevich | Cavanaugh family law attorney Katerina Barquet to discuss Ms. Torres’s chances for success. According to Barquet, the amount of child support normally payable in California is calculated using a fixed formula factoring the income of both parents (among other considerations). But that fixed formula may not apply in cases like this, says Barquet, when the father reportedly takes home $1.25 million per month, while the mother earns nowhere near this amount.
“There is a standard guideline and fixed formula by which courts must abide, but when it comes to special circumstances involving a celebrity who earns millions per month, the judge may reserve the right to determine the amount of child support based on the lifestyle of the person,” says Barquet. “The court under California law seeks to protect the best interests of the child and that includes providing those children the same style and quality of life as that of their dad.”
Ms. Torres’s petition allegedly requested that the singer’s child support payments be increased from $13,000 to $113,000 per month. In support, her petition alleges that her kids’ lavish lifestyle when they are with their father cannot be supported by the child support payment she currently receives.
According to Barquet, who prior to joining Yukevich | Cavanaugh worked as a family law attorney, says that in cases like Marc Anthony’s, there are several factors taken into consideration by California courts, some of which are the following:
• the parents’ employment status/earnings;
• their lifestyles;
• family expenses and disposable income; and
• whether their children live an extravagant life with one parent and not with another.
“The court may decide that the kids are entitled to the same quality of life they have when they are with their dad,” concluded attorney Barquet, who is a fellow Puerto Rican, in her interview with “Primera Hora.”