Court Says Kelly Clarkson Will Have To Shell Out $200k Per Month In Spousal And Child Support

Dec 22, 2021 by apost team

Kelly Clarkson is America's sweetheart with some serious accomplishments to her name, like selling over 25 million albums and 45 million singles worldwide. While she puts on a positive face for fans, 2021 has not been an easy year for her. 

In one of the sadder moments in celebrity news, Clarkson filed for divorce from her husband of seven years, Brandon Blackstock, on June 4, 2020. Married since October 2013, Clarkson and Blackstock share two children, River and Remington, together. 

A talent manager by profession, Blackstock is also the stepson of Reba McEntire. Clarkson cited "irreconcilable differences" on the paperwork she filed, while the classification on the case was "dissolution with minor children."

Later in November of 2020, the custody battle between the two parents was fought. Months after the official filing, the court made further decisions in relation to the couple's split, with Clarkson receiving primary custody of their two children, daughter River, 7, and son Remington, 5.

An ongoing battle over the assets between marital property finally came to the decision to award Clarkson ownership of the Montana ranch valued at $10 million. To prove Clarkson's entitlement to the ranch property, the court cited a prenuptial agreement that both Clarkson and Blackstock had signed, which rejected Blackstock's claim that the Montana ranch was marital property.

The complex divorce continued into the summer of 2021. Even though she was granted primary custody, in July, it was decided that Clarkson would have to pay Blackstock $200,000 per month in spousal and child support. This is nearly half of what he had initially requested. 

Read on to learn more about the divorce case and how Kelly Clarkson ended up having to pay so much in child and spousal support.

Regarding who was to get custody of the children, Clarkson did win primary custody, with Blackstock being allowed to visit his children. In documents obtained by Us Weekly, the paperwork from November 2020 stated:

"The Court finds that under the circumstances present in this case, the interest in providing stability and continuity for the minor children weighs in favor of Petitioner having primary custody."

Clarkson and Blackstock both have joint physical and legal custody of their two children, but Clarkson has primary physical custody in LA. Blackstock, who is a Texas native, is expected to reside in Montana. Us Weekly further reported that the paperwork stated:

"The level of conflict between the parents has increased. The parties have a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them."

The ruling meant that Blackstock would be allowed to visit his children at Clarkson's home in Los Angeles. He was expected to spend Thanksgiving with them and will be joining them for the Christmas period as well, from December 19-25 until 2 pm. 

The monthly schedule will include Blackstock having the kids in LA on the first and fifth weekends of the month, while on the third weekend, they'll be able to visit him in Montana. Additionally, Blackstock will FaceTime his children every day "at a mutually agreed upon time."

USA Today reported that the document also includes a clause that neither Clarkson nor Blackstock are allowed to "speak in a derogatory manner" about the other to their children. They also found that both of them will be listed as emergency contacts on all of the kids' school forms.

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According to People, Blackstock originally asked for $301,000 in spousal support and $135,000 in child support. In the end, Clarkson was ruled to pay around $200,000 a month, which comes out to $2.3 million a year. The outlet said $150,000 per month is for spousal support, and $45,601 is designated as child support for the time the kids spend with Blackstock. 

A source told People, "As Kelly has said, her first priority in all of this is to take care of the kids and all the hearts that are involved in this divorce." A second source added:

"It's been a hard time for everyone, but Kelly's pleased with the court's ruling regarding custody. Divorce is hard and it gets tense for most couples going through it. But Kelly's primary focus is on doing the best she can to protect the kids. In this case, she had to fight for them since Brandon and his attorneys were making unreasonable requests."

On her talk show, "The Kelly Clarkson Show," the star spoke with Khloe Kardashian. Clarkson mentioned:

"You speak about co-parenting, and I'm doing that right now too. It's tough. ... I know with me and Brandon, it's just a difficult thing because we're in different places, and it's like, we both agree on the main things, but it's a hard thing when you're not together all the time, for me personally. As long as you make sure it's about the children and their best interests, then we're both on board."

As reported by Us Weekly, Clarkson revealed in an interview with Gordon Ramsay on her show that she'd wanted more kids while her husband was content with the number they had.

What do you think of the amount of money Clarkson has to pay in spousal and child support? Do you think it's fair, considering she has primary custody? Let us know, and feel free to pass this on to the Kelly Clarkson fans in your life.