Donald Bren’s two adult children weren’t happy about the child support payments that their father made to their mother on their behalf over the years. Those payments were not awarded by a family court, but, rather, were sent to their mother in an out-of-court agreement. The kids – now aged 22 and 18 – considered the amounts received as being woefully short of what they should have gotten, and they took the matter to a trial in Los Angeles in pursuit of retroactive support – a deficiency payment, essentially – that they believed constituted a more reasonable amount.
It should be noted that Mr. Bren is most decidedly not a typical dad and that child support considerations are a bit singular for the Bren family. Donald Bren is, in fact, one of the richest men on the planet, listed in Forbes magazine as the 16th wealthiest American and having estimated assets of approximately $12 billion.
With that in mind, the kids determined that a payment of $134 million was a good ballpark figure for the jury to deliberate over.
The jury did just that, and quickly, concluding within three hours that the $9 million Bren had already paid in child support – coupled with his promise to pay for the kids’ educations until they reached 25 – was reasonable enough. In reaching its decision, the jury considered, but was apparently not overly influenced by, the characterization of Bren as a disinterested and inattentive father.
Related Resource: www.monstersandcritics.com “US billionaire wins child-support case” August 28, 2010