August 25, 2010, - 4:38 pm
A Tale of Two “Deadbeat Dads”: The American Muslim Polygamist & the Billionaire
I am a father’s rights advocate and an anti-feminist. So, normally, my view is–and the facts bear this out–that men are often unfairly labeled as “deadbeat dads.” Too frequently, they are guys struggling to make a living, who can hardly afford high child support payments, and, yet, even with many men busting their humps to fully pay exorbitant child support, mothers get full child custody 70% of the time, with fathers getting full sole custody only 7% of the time, according to my friend, divorce attorney Dennis Vatsis.
Who Paid Enough Child Support . . . & Who Didn’t: Muslim Polygamist Kenneth Mitchell, Billionaire Donald Bren
So, you would think that I’d be sympathetic to a deadbeat dad doctor who can’t pay up and was put behind bars, rather than a billionaire who paid a pittance in child support for his two kids. But you would be wrong, in at least these two interesting cases involving child support payments–a Michigan Muslim polygamist and a billionaire who fathered two kids with his lover.
Early this year, I told you about Dr. Kenneth Mitchell a/k/a Mustafa Mohamed, a Detroit-area podiatrist. I have zero sympathy for this guy. He converted to Islam, took on multiple wives, fathered multiple families, and now he won’t pay up, pleading poverty in a court hearing last week. Funny, how he had money to go twice on the hajj–the Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia–but claims that, despite earning $220,000 for the first six months of 2010, he can”t afford to put food on the table for his multiple offspring and three spouses. The thing about Islamic polygamy: it’s time-consuming and it’s costly. And you gotta pony up. But, hey, Islam allows the Muslim to lie to the infidel court and plead poverty. I guess he was too busy praising allah and balancing multiple secret marriages. Last week, he had a hearing in his child support case, and if he doesn’t pay up, the judge said she will put him behind bars. Sadly, there are never any HBO “Big Love” shows about Islamic polygamy in America. But, hey, the Mormons never mass murdered 3,000 Americans with some planes, so we gotta go after them, right?
Then, there is billionaire real estate magnate, Donald Bren. He fathered two children with his then-girlfriend, Jennifer McKay (who is now divorcing a multi-millionaire record company exec). While the guy is a loathsome baby daddy– fathering children out-of-wedlock and having almost nothing to do with them–you gotta be annoyed at his now-adult children’s lawsuit against him, seeking nearly $400,000 a month each in retroactive child support, plus interest for each month they were under 18. Their mother is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Cha-ching.
Yes, their biological father is a billionaire. And, in child support case in most states, the standard for support is usually the lifestyle the kids would have enjoyed if the parents had remained married. But this is ridiculous. Their mother–who is married to a very wealthy guy–willingly signed child support agreements with Bren. The agreements provided that Bren would ultimately pay $18,000 per month in child support. That’s more than $200,000 a year in support. Over time, Bren paid nearly $3 million in child support. While that’s chump change for a billionaire, it’s still a lot of money and more than enough to raise two kids comfortably. It’s not like the kids suffered or were deprived in any way. On the contrary, given documents regarding finances in their mother’s divorce from wealthy hubby, Jerome Gold.
What these two kids are trying to do is get what they will probably not get in their father’s will when he’s dead: an inheritance. They were well provided for as kids. And they don’t deserve anything more. The $400K per month they are now seeking amounts to $ 134 million (including interest). That’s not child support. That’s insisting on being handed the Powerball lottery jackpot without even buying a ticket. If their father had truly been a deadbeat, that would be one thing. But these kids just want a mega meal ticket.
Muslim polygamist Kenneth Mitchell–well that’s a different story.
Tags: child support, Christie Alexis Bren, David Leroy Bren, deadbeat dads, Donald Bren, fathers, Islam, Jennifer McKay Gold, Jerome Gold, Judith McKay Gold, Kenneth Mitchell, kids, Muslim, Muslim convert, Muslim polygamist, Mustafa Mohamed, podiatrist, polygamist, polygamy, three wives
Since I was accused of being “Deadbeat Dad” and then a “Disneyland Dad” in almost the same breath in the past I found this bemusing. I agree with your point…very few are deadbeats. The polygamist Doc should get what he deserves, and the kids in the other case have already got all they are owed. Not defending Bren for his choices, but enough. Maybe they can get a bonus from Mom?
Mark on August 25, 2010 at 5:27 pm