Paternity suit in state lists Joe Biden’s son, 49

It seeks support for ‘Baby Doe’

FILE — In this 2012 file photo, Hunter Biden waits for the start of his father's debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE — In this 2012 file photo, Hunter Biden waits for the start of his father's debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

An Arkansas woman is suing the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, alleging that he is the father of her baby.

Thus far, she’s been unable to serve him with the papers, her attorney said.

Lunden Alexis Roberts filed a petition for paternity and child support against Robert Hunter Biden in Independence County on May 28, days after Hunter Biden reportedly married another woman in California.

The two-page suit states that Roberts and Hunter Biden “were in a relationship” and that “Baby Doe” was born in August 2018 “as a result of that relationship.”

It doesn’t say how or where they met or offer other personal details.

Hunter Biden, who has spent most of his life on the East Coast, was born in Wilmington, Del. His father was U.S. senator for that state from 1973 to 2009. Joe Biden, who entered the 2020 presidential race in April, is leading the Democratic field in early polling.

The paternity case has been assigned to 16th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Don McSpadden.

No court date has been set.

Roberts is asking the court to establish that Hunter Biden, 49, is the baby’s biological father, award her child support and require him to provide health insurance for the infant; out-of-pocket health care expenses would be evenly divided, according to the filing. The mother is also seeking fees, costs and “all other just and proper relief.”

Clint Lancaster of The Lancaster Law Firm in Benton is representing Roberts.

Through her attorney, Roberts declined to comment on the lawsuit or her ties to Hunter Biden.

“She really values her privacy,” Lancaster said.

In her eyes, “this is a parenting and child support issue between her and Mr. Biden,” he said.

“She really does not want this to be a media spectacle. She does not want this to affect Joe Biden’s campaign. She just wants this baby to get financial support from the baby’s father,” Lancaster added.

Hunter Biden did not respond to multiple messages that were left on his office answering machine at a Washington, D.C., number Wednesday. The phone number was obtained from the state of Connecticut’s judicial branch website, which includes contact information for attorneys licensed to practice law within the state. Hunter Biden is an attorney.

The suit describes Hunter Biden as a resident of Annapolis, Md. No address for him is listed on the summons that was filed.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette emailed five spokesmen for the Joe Biden presidential campaign Wednesday afternoon and evening, and called and texted a campaign staff member. No responses were received as of 8 p.m.

“We have been in contact with Hunter Biden’s attorney. We have attempted to work with Hunter and his attorney to settle this issue but that has not been successful. We are attempting to serve Mr. Biden,” Lancaster said in an email Wednesday afternoon.

In Arkansas, defendants are supposed to be served with the summons and a copy of the lawsuit within 120 days of its filing, though judges sometimes grant extensions for good cause.

The petition doesn’t indicate whether Hunter Biden has any ties to the state.

That won’t be a bar to the paternity determination, according to Dustin A. Duke, former managing attorney for the Center for Arkansas Legal Services.

The mother’s and child’s ties to the state will suffice, said Duke, who has a Little Rock law firm.

“If they’re living here in Arkansas, then Arkansas [is] generally going to have jurisdiction over paternity of the child,” he said.

Lack of ties to Arkansas, however, could complicate efforts to obtain child support, Duke said.

“If he’s never stepped foot in the state of Arkansas, if he has no connection to the state of Arkansas, then child support actually has to be decided in whatever state he lives in,” Duke said.

Hunter Biden, a graduate of Georgetown University and the Yale Law School, is a member of the bar in Connecticut and the District of Columbia, and has worked as an attorney, lobbyist and a private equity investment partner.

For a time, he served on Amtrak’s board of directors.

More recently, Hunter Biden has dealt with drug problems and marital difficulties.

In May of 2013, he was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve but tested positive for cocaine the following month and was discharged early in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Soon thereafter, he joined the board of directors of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company, receiving as much as $50,000 per month for his work, according to The New York Times . While on the board, his father successfully pressured the Ukrainian government to fire Viktor Shokin, a prosecutor who was raising questions about the company’s owner, the Times added. (The prosecutor had faced criticism from other Western officials. The vice president has said the decision wasn’t influenced by his son’s work there.)

In August of 2015, Hunter Biden was listed as a customer of Ashley Madison, a website for people seeking to cheat on their significant others. He denied that the account was his, though it listed his name and email address.

He and his wife, Kathleen, separated later that year, eventually divorcing in 2017.

In a Feb. 23, 2017, court filing, the mother of three accused her estranged husband of “spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills,” The Associated Press reported.

On May 16, Hunter Biden married a South African native, Melissa Cohen, according to Page Six and TMZ.

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