The decision of Hunter Biden, the son of former US President Joe Biden, not to communicate with his seven-year-old daughter is not a legal issue, his lawyers have argued in an Arkansas court. The 55-year-old never promised to be involved with Navy Joan Roberts's upbringing, they added.
Navy Joan is the daughter of Hunter Biden and Lunden Roberts, a 34-year-old former stripper. In 2019, a court decision confirmed that Hunter was the father, and the two parties reached an agreement on child support and other matters in 2023.
Roberts has now moved the court for reconsideration after Hunter failed to live up to the agreement. Hunter, however, on Tuesday claimed the case should not be reopened after he and his Roberts reached a settlement in 2023.
Roberts alleged that Navy and her father had many planned phone calls, but in 2024, Biden abruptly stopped talking, causing trauma to the child. She argued that Biden should be placed in contempt of court.
Hunter's attorney, Brent Langdon, stated in the filings that "any failure to communicate with the Child is not punishable by contempt, as the Order does not order Defendant to contact the Child."
His lawyers also stated that information on the child's mental state or their relationship with him is immaterial for determining whether he should be found in contempt or subject to other sanctions.
According to Roberts, Hunter also neglected to produce the paintings he promised as part of the terms of the support arrangement. Hunter had committed to provide the child with a share of his artwork or the proceeds from sales, she said.
The agreement said that Hunter, whose paintings sold for six-figure sums during Joe Biden's presidency, would either give the little girl his artwork or the proceeds from any sales.
"Thirty paintings assigned to the Child by the Defendant will have complied with the Order, so even if no paintings had been given to the Child to date, such would not violate the Order," Langdon declared.
Roberts dropped her request for their daughter to have the Biden last name and consented to lower the monthly child support payments from around $20,000 to $5,000 as part of the 2023 agreement.
However, she now claims that Navy leads a different lifestyle than her half-siblings and requests that a court uphold the terms of the agreement and raise support payments.
The lawsuit is still pending in the Arkansas court.
