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Hunter Biden Paternity Case Ends in Settlement With Arkansas Woman

An Arkansas judge on Thursday approved a final settlement agreement bringing Hunter Biden’s paternity case to a close, just days after denying the former vice president’s son’s request for a nine-month delay because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and his pregnant wife.

BATESVILLE, Ark. (CN) – An Arkansas judge on Thursday approved a final settlement agreement bringing Hunter Biden’s paternity case to a close, just days after denying the former vice president’s son’s request for a nine-month delay because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and his pregnant wife.

Biden will pay an undisclosed monthly amount of child support and health insurance premiums to his 19-month-old child’s mother, Lunden Alexis Roberts, beginning April 1, according to court documents filed Thursday. Independence County Circuit Court Judge Holly Meyer also approved an amount for Roberts’ attorneys’ fees and costs that Biden must pay by May 1.

Roberts, 29, had sought $11,057 in legal expenses for attorneys Clint and Jennifer Lancaster, but because of an order sealing certain documents in the case, including the terms of the settlement, it is unclear what sum the parties ultimately agreed on.

The settlement reached Tuesday night after a flurry of motions in recent days is a legal victory for Roberts, who filed her claim against Biden last May seeking to establish paternity of her child, identified in court documents as Baby Doe. She got everything she asked for.

A DNA test conducted in November found “with scientific certainty” that Biden, 50, is the biological father of the child at the center of the suit, despite previously denying the allegations. Biden was granted visitation with the child and had been paying temporary support to Roberts since Feb. 1, court documents show.

Settlement talks between Biden’s and Roberts’ attorneys came swiftly after Judge Meyer denied Biden’s request to postpone a deposition scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Little Rock and push the case back nine months until after the 2020 presidential election, in which Biden’s father looks likely to be Democratic nominee facing off against President Donald Trump.

Biden cited travel concerns over the coronavirus, his 8 ½ month pregnant wife, and “intense media scrutiny arising from President Trump, Republican senators and others politically motivated to thwart former Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s nomination as the Democratic candidate for president.”

“The defendant can come by plane, train, or automobile but life and work will and should continue in our communities and courts,” the judge wrote in an order denying the request, adding that Biden’s wife was not required at the deposition and media interest in Biden as a public figure would continue either way.

The settlement prevents Biden from having to turn over financial information to the court or discussing his finances under oath. Republican lawmakers in Washington have been investigating the younger Biden’s overseas business dealings at the Ukrainian energy company at the heart of President Trump’s impeachment.

A hearing scheduled for Friday in the case will no longer be held, according to one of Roberts’ attorneys, Clint Lancaster.

Roberts, a 2014 graduate of Arkansas State University and a star college basketball player, met Biden in Washington, D.C., while pursuing a graduate degree at George Washington University.

Biden is expecting his fifth child with wife Melissa Cohen Biden.

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Categories / National, Politics

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