$1,166. That is the number a Nevada judge wrote into Deon and Karen Derrico’s divorce papers in June 2024: one monthly payment, from a father of 14, for 13 minor children. Not $1,166 per child. $1,166 in total.
Deon and Karen filed for divorce on June 4, 2024, after 19 years of marriage, and a judge finalized it two days later. Under the terms reported by TMZ and Entertainment Tonight, they share joint custody of 13 minor children: Deon pays $1,166 a month, and Karen covers the children’s medical insurance. Eldest daughter Darian was already an adult, so the order never included her. Two years on, everything changed except that number.
The Number on the Paper: $1,166 a Month
TMZ, Entertainment Tonight and MadameNoire all reported the same $1,166, and the figure has not changed since. The order was written when the show had just ended. Deon revealed in a 2025 podcast interview that he drives a school bus, and Karen works as a substitute teacher. The $1,166 still sits where the judge left it.
Here is the detail fans keep circling: the order covers 13 kids because Darian was already 18. She is the only Derrico child the number was never meant to cover, while her 13 younger siblings stayed inside a math problem signed two summers ago.
Ninety Dollars a Kid: What the Math Actually Buys
Do the division and the number gets small fast. $1,166 split 13 ways is $89.69 per child, per month. Count all 14 kids and it drops to $83.29, $3 a day. One side calls it shockingly low. The other says joint custody means Deon also feeds, houses and clothes the kids on his own days, so the check is only half the story.
Now multiply the ordinary by 14. Fourteen birthdays a year, and the triplets’ fourth birthday in 2023 came with cupcakes and crowns. Four sets of multiples, 14 school years, 14 pairs of shoes. The $1,166 was written for a two-parent household that no longer exists. Where the family stands now is two homes, two jobs and one old number.
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The number has a second half fans keep forgetting: Karen covers the children’s medical insurance, all 13 of them. For 13 kids, premiums can dwarf a $1,166 check. The divorce split the burden in two: cash from Deon, coverage from Karen. Call the cash too low and you still have to price her half.
The money trouble makes the number look even smaller. According to The Sun, Deon and Karen filed for bankruptcy five times, and a 2018 filing listed $12,519 in assets against $47,567 owed. Their Las Vegas home went to auction in September 2026, and the house auction drew zero bids.
Why Fans Cannot Stop Arguing About $1,166
So the group argues. Team Too Low says no joint custody math turns $89.69 a month into enough for a growing teenager. Team Fair Deal says the check was never meant to cover everything, because Deon pays again in groceries and rent every day the kids are with him. Both sides read the same court paper.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ on October 28, 2026, Deon told the court that 12 of the 14 children now live in his home. The parent who pays the $1,166 now houses nearly all the kids it was meant to support. No court has ruled on the number yet.
A June 2024 number does not fit the family of November 2026. Deon says 12 of the 14 kids live under his roof now, so if you were the judge, would you keep the $1,166 flowing to Karen, flip it, or start over? Team Keep It or Team Flip It, where do you stand?
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