Child actors and wealth

[Yong Fang]

https://www.nine.com.au/entertainmen...3-cffd129b50b0


Using Ian Armitage as an example, he has made millions on this show. Millions. More than enough money to support him for the rest of his life. From a Google search, he makes $31,500 an episode which is what most Americans make in a year. I was sort of surprised of how small it is actually is. I thought he wqas paid more. In six seasons at that salary, he made $4,118,400. That still seems low, but he makes more in twenty minutes and a week what most Americans make in a year.

I am vaguely familiar with the Jackie Coogan law which protects child actors from people stealing their wealth. However, this didnt help Gary Coleman whose parents stole his wealth to the point that Coleman was broke and had to take a job as a security guard making about $9 an hour. Coleman made millions and saw literally none of it. Despite the Coogan Law, in the case of Coleman, there still isnt that much protection from adult guardians to squander the money the child actor made to their own benefit. The parents of the minor child actor probably still has acess to some of the money for the upkeep of the child, is there a rule or law for that. I think in the case of Armitage, his parents are already successful and fairly wealthy and have little need to dip into his money. But what happens if the parents are in poor financial straits and need the money to get them out of poverty if the money is not theirs?

Do parents of very successful child actors have the right to hold back their money to a certain age, or does the actor have the right to the money when they reach the age of maturity (which is mostly 18 unless you want to buy alcohol).

This is conservative, but Armitage makes well over a million dollars a seaosn non this series which has been on for six years.

When does he get his worth? When he is 18? At 18 does he have the maturity to live his life? If I was him and that age, I want my money and I want to live my life. Or at most when I turned 21. I went to college and disliked it very much and seeing how much money I had, would want to live a free life.

But just from this show, he has made a lifetime of money. So did Gary Coleman. But I was a youth who went to college and unlike most people hated college and just wanted to live a free life. Mostly to travel, stay in nice hotels, then have a nice home and just live off the interest. Armitage has made enough money to live the rest of his life unless he squanders it. But how old should he get his momey and the pitfalls thereof? If he is 40 years old (and I probably wont live that long because of age) and he is broke and cries that he was a child actor and the system faioled him, should we feel sorry for him unless his parents stole his wealth like Gary Coleman which should be legally protected, or that someone at 18 or even 21 be mature enough to manage their wealth to live a free life?

[GentlemanJim]

https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/mo...0or%20guardian.

Anything is vulnerable to deft manipulation. Judy Garlands mom found ways around the Coogan law.

That's why they changed the law in the early 1960s to require 15% of gross income be placed in trust for the child to have later in life.

I find it interesting that they specifically mention "gross" to prevent the parent from diverting funds (prior to calculation) in the form of management fees and other expenses.

Also, lets not forget that all of those dollars are not "income"...there are acting lessons, image management, cosmetic surgery, security, as well as other expenses that we mere mortals do not often have to think about.

[stevea]

Armitage's 31K salary probably doesn't include some of the perks that my be part of his compensation, such as rerun residuals, and who-knows-what-else.