BATESVILLE, Arkansas – On a Sunday before a hearing was set to begin, Hunter Biden produced his legal bills to mother Lunden Roberts in a child support suit that includes an expert witness from Effingham County, Illinois.
Roberts moved for their disclosure in April as possible evidence that Biden can afford the child support he agreed to pay in 2020.
They notified Circuit Judge Holly Meyer of an agreement on May 22, stating Biden fully disclosed all attorneys with whom he consulted.
They agreed that Biden had a continual obligation to supplement the information.
Meyer cancelled a hearing she had set for the next day.
Roberts presented the bills to her expert, and Illinois native, Garrett Zeigler so he could prepare for a deposition.
Zeigler has acquired a national audience with research and opinions about the Biden family.
Hunter Biden moved to keep Zeigler out of the Arkansas case, but counsel for Roberts successfully argued that defendants don’t get to choose experts for plaintiffs.
Roberts sued Biden in May 2019 to establish paternity so she could obtain child support, health insurance, and coverage of health costs beyond insurance.
Her counsel Clinton Lancaster of Benton, Arkansas, claimed Biden verbally admitted paternity but denied it to media and the court.
Biden submitted a sample for genetic testing in November 2019, and it confirmed paternity.
Circuit Judge Don McSpadden set a hearing, and Biden's counsel Bart Calhoun of Little Rock moved to continue it.
“The likelihood that defendant’s private financial records will be used in an inappropriate and malicious manner for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with these proceedings is exceedingly high and should not be tolerated by this court,” he wrote.
Calhoun claimed Biden worked with accountants to prepare an affidavit of financial means, but they couldn’t complete it in time for the hearing.
Biden signed an affidavit stating he lacked complete information.
“I attest that I am unemployed and have had no monthly income since May 2019,” he wrote.
“I currently have significant debts in part as a result of obligations arising from my divorce which was final in April 2017 that are being calculated by accountants,” he added.
McSpadden held a hearing but Calhoun and two colleagues withdrew, stating Biden’s personal attorney advised them of discharge.
McSpadden ordered both parents to report any money from any source in five years including support, gifts, salary, tips, or bonuses.
“It concerns me that the only information supplied to the court so far concerning employment of either party has been unemployment or underemployment,” he wrote.
Brent Langdon of Texarkana, Texas, entered an appearance for Biden.
Lancaster served Biden with requests for admissions about his compensation as a board member of Ukraine energy company Burisma.
He requested an admission that Biden or an entity he controlled received money from a Chinese person or entity for international and domestic investment purposes.
Lancaster moved to compel discovery, claiming Biden objected to all requests and hadn’t provided any support for more than a year.
Roberts signed a financial affidavit stating she received money from a company Biden listed on his affidavit for six months in 2018, and she never received a tax document.
Lancaster moved to resolve custody and visitation separately, claiming Biden hadn’t seen his child and couldn’t pick her out of a photo lineup.
Then on New Year’s Eve in 2019, McSpadden recused himself.
Meyer took the case and set a final hearing in May 2020.
In March 2020, Meyer signed an order stating that she gave Biden considerable leniency regarding continuances and that swift adjudication would serve the child’s best interest.
She stated that she began to see a pattern of delay.
Two days later, Roberts and Biden reported a final agreement.
Meyer redacted the amounts for support, insurance, and fees.
Later that year, American voters chose Hunter Biden’s father for president.
Hunter Biden reopened the Arkansas case last September to seek a reduction in support due to a substantial material change in financial circumstances.
He claimed the Arkansas court shouldn’t be used as “another of his many personal black holes of financial information.”
Then on Dec. 27, Lancaster moved to change the child’s last name to Biden.
“The Biden name is synonymous with being well educated, successful, financially acute, and politically powerful,” he wrote.
He called Hunter a wildly successful businessman.
Langdon responded that Roberts must prove a name change was in the child’s best interest.
“The notoriety would no doubt rob this child of peaceful existence,” he wrote.
The motion remains pending.
Lancaster then moved to find Biden in contempt for discovery violations in April, claiming he didn’t produce a single item of discovery.
“This court should incarcerate the defendant in the Cleburne County detention center until he complies with this court’s orders and answers discovery,” he wrote.
On April 27, Lancaster moved to discover Biden’s legal bills, claiming they would indicate his income and ability to pay.
On May 16, Meyer wrote that Biden provided incomplete discovery responses.
She wrote that he couldn’t simply provide tax and bank documents and invite Roberts to determine answers.
The following day, Langdon moved to disqualify Zeigler as an expert.
On May 18, Lancaster claimed Biden didn’t answer interrogatories.
He stated he didn’t believe Biden would ever fully answer.
Then on May 19, he wrote that taxable income is highly susceptible to manipulation.
“Mr. Biden does not want to disclose his income and assets, says that he’s somewhat financially destitute, while he lives on a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, has Secret Service protection, and enjoys his time abroad which he has also lied about in discovery,” he wrote.
On that date, Meyer ruled that Zeigler’s deposition would proceed on May 22.
She ruled that if he couldn’t give an opinion without seeing legal bills, “then he shall so state.”
She stated she’d hear the motion to disclose the bills on May 23, and the parties should notify her by noon on May 22 if they no longer required a hearing.
They notified her, though the docket doesn’t show whether the deposition took place.
Meyer has set bench trial July 24 and 25.