The issue of money and child actors can be a source of confusion for families. And this confusion can lead to broken relationships and the kinds of headlines you hope never feature your child’s name.
It’s both the legal and moral responsibility of the parents to properly manage the money earned by their minor child, and most parents do their best to do right by their kids. Different states have different laws governing who owns the income a young actor makes. But if your child lives in, works in, or works for a company based in California—even if the project shoots elsewhere—the law is very clear about to whom the money belongs: 100 percent of the income belongs to the child.
Most parents of child actors working in California are familiar with the best-known section of California’s Coogan Law that states 15 percent of every dollar a minor performer earns must go directly into a blocked trust (or Coogan) account that may not be touched until the minor is 18. It also states that this money belongs exclusively to the minor.
The part of that law that many parents are less familiar with is the piece based on Section 771 of the California Family Code: not only does that 15 percent in the blocked
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