A video posted to Instagram this week has divided the internet.
Barnett Jenkins claims he had been voluntarily paying the mother of his daughter $300 every week, despite never being under a formal child support order. He says that when he hit a temporary financial setback, he went to her and explained the situation, offering to drop his payments to $150 a week for two to three months while he got back on his feet.
She filed for formal child support instead.
Jenkins says the court then looked at the full picture of his involvement in his daughter’s life. According to him, he has custody three days a week, handles daily school drop-offs and pickups, and covers all of her daycare expenses out of pocket.
After factoring in those contributions alongside his income, the judge set his formal child support obligation at $13.49 per month.
He posted what appears to be an official child support payment notice from the Illinois State Disbursement Unit reflecting that amount, dated July 1, 2026. The post went viral almost immediately.
The reactions split down the middle. Half the internet called it karmic justice, a mother who tried to use the courts as leverage and ended up far worse off than before. The other half pointed out that $13.49 a month is $161 a year, barely enough to feed a child for a week, and that whatever the legal ruling, the child is the one who loses.
He Asked to Temporarily Pay Less Child Support — The Court Set It at Just $13.49 a Month
