Strahan v. Strahan

Michael Strahan (plaintiff), a football player for the New York Giants, and Jean Strahan (defendant) married, and twin girls were born of the marriage. A few months after the twins’ birth, Michael filed for divorce. When the matter came to trial, the twins were about 18 months old. Jean sought child support to cover the twins’ “reasonable needs” beyond those accounted for in the income-shares model, such as diamond earrings to give to their grandmother and a trip to Jamaica for one of their nannies and her family. The twins’ annual “reasonable needs” also included $27,000 for clothes, $30,000 for landscaping, and $36,000 for “equipment and furnishings.” The court did not require an explanation of those “reasonable needs,” and Jean did not offer one. Jean testified that Michael did not know about or agree to pay for all the twins’ reasonable needs. Michael testified that he wanted to raise the twins to appreciate the value of money and did not want to overindulge them. Michael had $292,000 in net monthly income, and his basic child-support obligation, calculated by the income-shares model, was about $36,000 per year. The court found that the twins had a supplemental need of $200,000 per year but did not specify which needs were covered, nor did it determine that the supplemental needs were reasonable. The court ordered Michael to pay $214,745 annually in child support, not including the twins’ expenses that Michael voluntarily assumed, such as college tuition and extracurricular-activity fees. Michael appealed on several grounds, including that the court did not determine that the twins’ supplemental needs were reasonable in making its award.