Former reality TV star Jody Claman ordered to pay up
Claman loses in court after arguing she was broke despite spending $414,000 last year
A former star of The Real Housewives of Vancouver has been ordered to pay nearly $50,000 in retroactive child support after a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled her annual salary was much higher than she claimed in court.
In 2015, Jody Claman, who was a regular on the now defunct reality TV series for two seasons (20122013), lost a child custody battle with her ex-husband Eran Friedlander.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper granted Friedlander, an investment banker, sole custody of the couple’s now 10-year-old daughter.
Since the order, Friedlander claimed his ex-wife had not made a single voluntary basic monthly child support payment, despite numerous requests to do so.
Claman argued she was broke and was relying on loans from friends to make ends meet.
In a 2017 financial statement, Claman pleaded poverty with a listed annual income of $5,806 but she still lived the high-life with expenses totalling $414,206.88.
Her assets include two West Vancouver properties — a home and business — with a combined value of $5.3 million, business interests that include a family trust, Jody’s Fine Foods Inc., and Glass House Holdings Ltd., and art valued at $120,000.
According to her F8 financial statement cited in the ruling, Claman is spending $2,400 per year on restaurant bills and $2,100 per month on personal clothing, cosmetics, hygiene, life insurance, dry cleaning and entertainment, amounting
to a sum of more than $25,000 per year on personal expenses. She is also paying $3,600 for an annual membership at Hollyburn Country Club and $2,400 per year for ski lessons for her child.
She listed loans from her friends in the amount of $869,730.70.
Based on her lifestyle and the expenses claimed on her financial
statements, Justice Gropper found Claman’s income is $200,000 annually.
“Like every other parent, Ms. Claman must do whatever is necessary to support her child. She cannot rely on a self-induced reduction of income. Frankly, it is perplexing that on one hand Ms. Claman emphasizes how much she loves her daughter
and on the other, refuses to support her. While the child is young and likely (unaware) of the position that her mother is taking concerning her support, as she grows older, she will be bewildered by her mother’s position that she cannot or will not provide financial support to her,” Gropper said in her ruling.
Gropper ordered Claman pay
monthly child support of $1,693 and retroactive child support of $49,047, dating back to Jan. 1, 2016.
Claman must also pay a 50 per cent share of retroactive special and extraordinary expenses which averaged $700 per month dating back to 2015.