Britney Spears asked to pay $60,000 per month in child support

Celebrities often go through the same sort of struggles that ordinary people do -- just more publicly and on a larger scale. There are elements of their lives, however, that often help illustrate some valuable lessons.

One of those lessons is what it means to pay enough support so that you maintain a child's existing standards of living whenever possible.

In this case, pop singer Britney Spears is being asked to pay $60,000 per month in child support to her ex-husband, Keven Federline -- a significant increase over the $20,000 per month that he receives now. At issue is the disparity between the singer's multimillion dollar income and the dwindling income of her ex-husband. Once a popular figure, his star has been on a decline for the last decade -- taking his wealth with it.

Spears has reportedly tried to settle the dispute out of court but her ex-husband has refused. His contention is that he can't compete with the things that Spears can offer their children when they are with her. She has the bigger home, with lavish additions like a pool house, tennis court, library and spa -- while he shares a more modest home with his six children (including those from other relationships) and a wife.

Family courts tend to take the view that a broken marriage shouldn't affect the children of that marriage any more than necessary. When deciding support, the court will often try to level things out so that a child doesn't experience comfort at one parent's house and deprivation at the other parent's house.

When dealing with large parental incomes, the issue can become very complicated. It's hard to argue that a child's basic needs can't be met by $20,000 a month in support -- although that hardly provides the same lifestyle that millions can. When there's enough money to go around, a custodial parent receiving support is entitled to use that support money for nonessentials, like entertainment.

Exactly how this issue will play out remains to be seen, but it does nicely illustrate the difficulties that many well-heeled parents can face regarding appropriate child support long after a marriage is over.

Source: pagesix.com, "Kevin Federline wants $60K in monthly child support from Britney Speas," Jessica Sager, May 30, 2018