The Independence County circuit judge overseeing a paternity lawsuit involving Hunter Biden and an Arkansas woman on Monday accepted a temporary agreement on child support.
Court documents show Biden has agreed to pay monthly support starting in February.
He also will pay by March 1 retroactive support back to Nov. 1, 2018, and for plaintiff Lunden Alexis Roberts' legal fees.
The amounts he will pay for each of these were redacted in online court documents.
"He's doing the right thing by finally stepping up and paying what he should've been paying," Clint Lancaster, the attorney representing Roberts, said Sunday.
The agreement enables Biden to avoid a mandatory trip to the Independence County Courthouse in the midst of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
Trump is accused by House Democrats of pressuring Ukraine to investigate Biden and his father, Joe, in order to undermine Joe Biden's presidential campaign. Hunter Biden once served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. He joined the board while his father was vice president and quit the same month his father began his candidacy for president.
[DOCUMENT: Read agreed order on temporary child support » arkansasonline.com/128biden/]
The Bidens have been mentioned dozens of times during the Senate impeachment proceedings in Washington, with Republicans questioning their Ukraine dealings and Democrats portraying them as victims of a partisan political smear campaign.
While the elder Biden is the leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, the younger Biden has been embroiled for months in the Batesville child support case. Roberts filed the paternity suit against Biden in May, seeking a determination of paternity as well as child support.
After initially denying that he'd had sexual relations with Roberts, Biden agreed to take a DNA test in November. It showed, "with near scientific certainty," that he is the biological father, the court declared Jan. 7.
Biden discontinued providing voluntary child support in November 2018, Lancaster said.
Roberts has asked the court to award her child support. But Biden told the court in a signed Nov. 27 affidavit that he is unemployed and hasn't had a monthly income since May.
Told, in court filings, that the defendant had improperly withheld financial information, Circuit Judge Holly Meyer last week commanded Biden to "appear and show cause, if any exists, as to why he should not be held in contempt for any of the alleged violations of this court's orders."
Monday's agreement does not dismiss the contempt motions, according to court documents. They will be dismissed if Biden provides all the documents the court has requested by March 1.
The agreement also allows the court to adjust the amount of child support Biden must pay each month once it receives all relevant financial information.
Metro on 01/28/2020