You’ve probably heard the saying, “The higher they rise, they harder they fall.” And when it comes to the financial dealings of celebrities, it can certainly ring true. After all, a person who earns $50,000 a year isn’t going to be ordered by the court to pay $3 million in annual child support payments. But for those people with six or seven figure salaries (or larger), the stakes are much higher when it comes to child support payments, alimony agreements, and other court ordered payments. And the Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera is no different!
It all started with a love affair…
Cabrera, who is married, started an extra marital affair with Belkis Rodriguez (who was also married at the time) years ago. Cabrera lives with his wife and three kids in a $3 million lakefront mansion in Grosse Pointe Farms near Detroit. For years the affair was a secret, and Cabrera funded what he believed was a rather lavish lifestyle for his mistress and their two children, buying them a $1 million home in Orlando, FLA, and paying $12,000 a month in child support payments to ensure a comfortable way of life.
But Rodriguez believes she and her kids were entitled to more…
When Rodriguez was unable to convince Cabrera to give her a substantial increase on her monthly allowance (she was allegedly angling for $100,000 a month) she went public with their relationship. Rodriguez filed a paternity suit against Cabrera in Florida’s Orange County Circuit Court that exposed the affair and the two secret children. She claimed he had set her up with a lavish lifestyle and left her high and dry to cope on her own.
Rodriguez wants to know how much Cabrera spend on his own three kids.
Rodriguez believes that she and her children are entitled to the same amount of money as Cabrera’s wife and his legitimate kids. She has argued that she is entitled to know exactly how much money he spends on his family, and surprisingly, the judge agreed with some of her argument. In the court order, Cabrera has been ordered to disclose how much he spends on his three kids’ private school tuition, their tutors and after-school activities, along with info about any trips he’s taken with his children outside the regular baseball season.
Court documents show a different side of the story…
According to Rodriguez, with Cabrera’s $30-million annual salary (which breaks down to $2.5 million a month) she should be entitled to at least $100,000 a month under Florida’s child support guidelines. The judge, however, ordered Cabrera to pay $12,000 a month, which is pretty much what he was already paying. But court documents reveal that the real reason Rodriguez is upset is because she wants Cabrera to leave his wife, and he refuses. Either way, this court battle is far from over, and Cabrera is likely to end up forking over a lot more cash than he originally expected to.
Child support can be a really contentious subject.
Whether you live in Novi, Troy, Royal Oak, Rochester or Bloomfield, getting divorced with kids means figuring out who pays child support and how much it’s going to cost them. As you can imagine, it’s not a fun task, and can result in some heated arguments along the way. Which is why you need a skilled negotiator in your corner when hashing out the legal details of an Oakland County divorce. So call The Kronzek Firm at 248 479-6200 and discuss your case with one of our skilled family lawyers. We’ve been doing this successfully for decades and we’re exceptionally good at it. Our office is conveniently located on Northwestern Highway near Inkster in Farmington Hills.