Daddy thinks he paying too much... shut up rich boy!
Child support bid tops $45K
Thursday, August 04, 2005
SCOTT DAVIS
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Pro basketball player Jason Richardson is claiming that the new child support request his former girlfriend is lobbing at him is out of bounds.
Way out of bounds.
Roshonda Jacqmain of Saginaw is seeking monthly support payments of $45,426 -- a 10-fold increase over what she now receives for their 5-year-old daughter, Jaela T. Jacqmain.
Richardson, a Saginaw native and guard/forward for the Oakland-based Golden State Warriors, was in Saginaw County Probate Court this week to fight the request.
"It's totally outrageous," said Richard S. Victor, Richardson's Bloomfield Hills-based attorney. "What is she going to do with the money? Jason Richardson is taking care of the child's needs and then some.
"A mother should not be taking advantage of the fact that she has a child ... and make money from it."
Brian S. Makaric, Roshonda Jacqmain's Saginaw Township-based attorney, strongly denied any inference that his client is seeking too much money.
"They were boyfriend and girlfriend for five years. It hurts her," Makaric said of the inference. "They still have a relationship to the extent that they share a child together and they interact on a continual basis."
Serving as referee is Judge Patrick J. McGraw. He said he may issue a ruling in the case as early as next week.
The News was unable to reach Richardson or Jacqmain for comment.
Makaric said Jacqmain simply wants McGraw to follow a state formula in allocating child support; Makaric said it calls for $45,426 monthly payments.
The recent child support request was prompted partly by Richardson's signing of a six-year contract with his team, boosting his salary next season to $8.9 million, court records say.
That salary rises annually to $14.4 million in 2010, records indicate. Citing the increase, Jacqmain is seeking $73,048 in monthly child support payments that year.
"I'm not saying the child needs to ride in a luxury automobile or live in a (luxurious) home," Makaric said. "But the child should have advantages similar to a wealthy parent."
Victor, however, argues that state child support laws are designed only to meet the financial needs of the children. He said Richardson's monthly payment of $4,000 now provides for Jaela's living expenses, which are no more than $3,400 per month.
In addition, Richardson, 24, pays a court-ordered monthly amount of $1,000, which is set aside in a conservatorship for the child.
Victor said Richardson bestows many gifts on his child beyond the support payments, including furniture and, some months, $2,000 in clothing.
Victor said Richardson spends the summer and holidays with her, taking her to Disneyland and other places.
"This is a hands-on dad who takes her shopping for her school supplies," Victor said. "This is an actively involved dad who has not skirted his responsibility."
Jacqmain has disputed the amount of clothing bought for her child. Her attorney says Richardson sees his daughter periodically through the year when he is not playing but does not spend the whole summer with her.
Victor said that state case laws support his argument that the child's needs -- not a rigid child support formula -- set the standard for support in high-income cases.
But Makaric argues that Michigan judges routinely use the state formula to establish relatively high child support payments in high-income cases.
Jacqmain now resides in a "modest" home in Saginaw with her daughter and is unemployed, Makaric said. She is a year from finishing a bachelor's degree at Davenport University with a focus on health information technology.
Jaela will attend St. Stephen Elementary School in Saginaw in the fall, court records say.
"It would put them on more of a level where there is not a disparity," Makaric said. "It's not a healthy environment for the child to live in -- to live one way with Dad and to live in a different economic-social environment with Mom."
Even though Jacqmain is seeking a higher payment now, Makaric said, her life has vastly improved only in recent years.
"She lived in a women's homeless shelter for almost two years, raising the child on her own while (Richardson) was still in college," Makaric said. "The child took her first steps in a homeless shelter. (Jacqmain) is now managing to get by."
In 2000, McGraw ordered Richardson to pay $8 a week in child support for his daughter, and a year later, he signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors, starting with an annual salary of $2.4 million.
In August 2001, McGraw increased the support payment to $2,000 monthly, and later set it at $4,000, plus the $1,000 monthly payment to a conservatorship, court records say. v