$320,000 monthly child support? That's rich
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LOS ANGELES — The court file chronicling Kirk and Lisa Bonder Kerkorian's decadelong courtship, monthlong marriage and newly escalating child-support dispute leaves no doubt that the rich are indeed different from everyone else.
In what is being touted as a test case for California's wealthiest parents, the billionaire MGM studio and casino mogul and his former tennis-pro wife are fighting in Los Angeles Superior Court over just how much money it takes to properly raise their 3-year-old daughter.
Is it $35,000 a month, as he suggested in the prenuptial agreement; $50,000 a month, as they agreed to in the divorce settlement; or $75,000, as he paid from August 2000 to September 2001? How about $320,000, the amount of money she says was lavished each month on little Kira's lifestyle while her parents got along?
When times were good, court papers say, money was no object. In March 1999, 20 children and 30 adults attended Kira's first birthday party, held at the posh Hotel Bel-Air at a cost of $70,000. Despite her tender years, Kira has flown more than 35 times from Los Angeles to New York, France and beyond — always on private jets.
Three nannies, four addresses
At her 84-year-old father's insistence, Kira had three nannies fussing over her as she was shuttled among a $13 million, 23-acre gated estate overlooking Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon, a $5 million Las Vegas house, her father's new $10 million house a few blocks from the Beverly Hills Hotel and her mother's renovated $8 million home nearby.
Lisa Kerkorian, 36, last week took the step of making public what previously had been a private matter. She filed a 33-page court declaration baring details of the personal life of a billionaire known for guarding his privacy.
For a time it seemed that Kirk Kerkorian would keep a lid on publicity about the marriage and divorce by filing for an expedited dissolution with no hearings.
No more.
Lisa Kerkorian's declaration reads like a novel. And that, said Kirk Kerkorian's lawyer, Dennis Wasser, in an interview, "is because to a large extent it is fiction."
As she tells the story in the court papers, she met Kerkorian in 1986, and they became tennis partners and friends. In 1991, as her first marriage crumbled, they became romantically involved. Kerkorian urged her to "walk away" from the marriage without demanding alimony and child support for her son so that he wouldn't be dragged into a public divorce battle, she says.
She became Kerkorian's "constant companion" and hostess at social events. When Kerkorian opened the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas in 1993, she was at his side, entertaining guests at the VIP party. They traveled, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on vacations in Hawaii and Europe.
She pressed him to marry her, and when he wouldn't she tried to leave him during summer 1997. But when she learned in August of that year that she was pregnant, Kerkorian welcomed their child, she says. Still, he wanted nothing to do with marriage. That's when lawyers became involved.
She was eager to give their relationship "dignity and respect" and to "legitimize" their child. Kira was born March 9, 1998, but the Kerkorians wouldn't marry until the following August — and then only if she'd agree to file for divorce a month later.
There was another condition: Lisa Kerkorian waived all her rights to spousal support. She says she agreed to that provision because "I believed and hoped that Kirk's and my marriage would last. Actually, I was afraid to object because I felt that if I did, Kirk would not marry me."
Besides, she says, he'd promised to always take care of Kira's every need.
"In all our discussions" about Kira, "the word 'needs' never meant basic needs but what was required to maintain her in the station of life and with all the things and benefits befitting the daughter of Kirk Kerkorian," Lisa Kerkorian says.
Grounded
Kirk Kerkorian paid for Kira's vacation and travel expenses, and for a time supplied $20,000 to $30,000 in cash each month in addition to the agreed-upon child support, the court papers say. But, his former wife charges that he drew the purse strings tighter as their relationship chilled. She accuses him of using his wealth to try to control her.
When she balked at his demand that she and Kira continue to live in Beverly Hills, she says he withdrew the perks, at one point telling her, "My airplane is no longer part of your lifestyle."
Lisa Kerkorian is now asking the court to award Kira $320,000 a month — $3.8 million a year. As a compromise, she suggests Kerkorian pay $220,000 a month and allow his daughter to fly five times a year on his $56 million Boeing 737, which is equipped with a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and seats for 21 passengers.
With people of average income, calculating support is fairly simple. Income figures and expenses are applied against a standard computerized formula, which determines how much support should be paid. But applying the program to the extremely wealthy is not practical or possible.
For Kira — and her mother — the private jets, chartered yachts, summers in France, nannies, gardeners, housekeepers, security guards and almost unlimited supply of cash are things of the past. Lisa Kerkorian says she's selling her own securities to maintain Kira's lifestyle. It can't be done on $50,000 a month, she says.
For a while, the couple kept things civil. They continued to travel and live together at his estate, even after the divorce. Lisa Kerkorian and Kira resided in the main house, while Kirk Kerkorian occupied the guest house.
Their falling out, according to the court file, came during summer 2000 when she confronted him about rumors that he'd been seeing other women. Finally, that August, she vowed to leave Kerkorian after running into him at a Los Angeles restaurant while he was on a date with another woman.
Still, he continued to pay for renovations to a home for Kira and his ex-wife in Beverly Hills. He supplied an additional $3 million to complete the project. But after Lisa Kerkorian announced she was moving with Kira to New York, he demanded repayment. Then, within days, he placed a lien on the property.
Lisa Kerkorian maintains that the home-improvement money was a gift and is asking the court to declare it as such. Kirk Kerkorian insists that it was a loan.
A hearing is scheduled for March 11, two days after Kira's fourth birthday. Family-law attorneys say Kerkorian vs. Kerkorian could be the California test case that determines how lavish a lifestyle the children of the very wealthy can expect if their parents divorce.
California law does not set a cap on child-support payments, and the state's guidelines give judges wide discretion in cases involving the wealthy. In Los Angeles, for example, anyone who makes more than $750,000 a year is considered a high earner in some courtrooms. In others, the figure is $1 million, said Beverly Hills attorney Daniel Jay Jaffe, who is not involved in the Kerkorian dispute.
But just how much does a billionaire's child really need?
Among the monthly expenses Lisa Kerkorian lists: $144,000 for travel; $14,000 for parties and play dates; $7,000 for charity; $4,300 for food, plus $5,900 to eat out; $2,500 for movies, theaters and outings; $1,400 for laundry and cleaning; $1,000 for toys, videos and books; and $436 for care of Kira's bunny and other pets.
If Lisa Kerkorian prevails, $320,000 a month would be by far the most expensive child-support award in California.
Kirk Kerkorian has an estimated $6.4 billion fortune, according to Forbes magazine. He is the majority shareholder of MGM Mirage Inc. and one of the largest individual shareholders of DaimlerChrysler.