Kelly Clarkson, 38, may end up paying $135,000 a month to her ex Brandon Blackstock, 43, for child support because of her high income and California “guidelines”, according to Los Angeles family lawyer Kelly Chang Rickert. Although the singer has primary custody of their children, River Rose, 6, and Remy, 4, Brandon, who is reportedly asking for a whopping $300,000 a month in alimony in addition to the $135K in child support, is still eligible to receive what he’s asking for because of her top salary, but that amount could change over the years depending on her “earning capacity”.
“California has one of the highest guideline supports in all 50 states, it’s based off income,” Rickert EXCLUSIVELY explained to Hollywoodlife. “So yes, depending on Kelly’s salary (which should be in the millions), his request sounds about right. You can still get child support if you don’t have majority of the kids, if the other sides income is far, far greater.”
As far as why Brandon would be asking for $135,000 a month in child support, Rickert explained that “he’s just going for the full extent of the law.” “He basically got her financials, plugged it in and is asking for the guideline and he’s going to get it because the guideline in California is extremely high,” she said. “He doesn’t have to justify it because it doesn’t matter because it’s guidelines.”
Rickert, the founder of Purpose Driven Lawyers, also pointed out that the exact amount may be negotiated between them and it may go down if Kelly’s future income gets lower. “They’ll probably negotiate something, because maybe her income goes up and down, up and down. If she has a bad year, like no royalties or something, then it’ll go down, so they’ll negotiate something,” she confirmed. “Her earning capacity is not going to be like this forever, I don’t think, so she won’t be able to pay this amount forever.”
“Child support is always modifiable,” Rickert continued. “You can negotiate for alimony to be non-modifiable, but in typical cases where income goes up and down, they don’t agree to that. They always say child support is modifiable.”
As far as the alimony amount, Rickert further explained that like child support, it also depends on Kelly’s earnings. “It really depends what she’s making, because the formula for alimony is pretty high in the state,” she said. “There are very set guidelines that take into account what each party is making. It is really just based on her earnings. If she makes $20 million per year then she would pay $8000 a month in child support, and $90,000 in alimony per month. But if she earns more, it goes up.”
A prenup is also a big factor when it comes to alimony. “Everybody that’s getting married in California needs to get a prenup because you are paying so much in alimony,” Rickert added. “Even if you have no kids, you’re paying alimony. And with a prenup you can waive alimony in California and we’re one of the few states that will let you waive alimony. But if they didn’t have a prenup that waived alimony then presumably alimony in California is awarded for half the length of marriage.”
“They were married for seven years so she’ll be paying three and a half years of alimony,” she continued. “But child support is payable until the kids are 18. We don’t know what happened to end the marriage but even if he was unfaithful to her she still has to pay because it doesn’t matter.”
Kelly and Brandon were married in 2013 but she reportedly filed for divorce on June 4, 2020. A reason for the split is not known at this time but it came as quite a shock to her the public since the couple was known for being so open about their happiness and love for each other. Kelly reportedly plans to be based primarily in Los Angeles, where her talk show films, post-split while Brandon reportedly plans to live in Montana, where he and Kelly had a ranch when they were together.