As reported by the Huffington Post on Friday, April 5, 2013, Halle Berry is expecting her second child (the father is Olivier Martinez). Halle Berry has a five year old child, Nahla, from a previous relationship with Gabriel Aubry. Reportedly, Halle Berry pays child support to Gabriel Aubry. However, with the birth of a second child, Halle Berry may seek a reduction in child support.
In Texas, when the parent who has a child support obligation has another child, the parent paying child support is entitled to a modification of their child support obligation. The legal burden to modify a person’s child support is a “material and substantial change in circumstances.” When there is a birth of another child, the percentage of a parent’s monthly net income for child support purposes changes.
If Halle Berry were paying child support to Gabriel Aubrey in Texas, her child support obligation would be 20% of her monthly net income ($7,500.00 is the maximum for monthly net income) plus the cost of the child’s monthly health insurance premium. Once her second child is born, Texas recognizes the fact that Halle would have another child to support. Therefore, the percentage of her monthly net income for child support would change from 20% to 17.5% per month.
It is important to remember that these changes in percentages and thus the monthly child support obligation only changes when a person obtains a new Court order that changes their monthly child support obligation