How Much Money Must Be Deposited Into a Coogan Account from a Child’s Earnings?

Image via Wikipedia, Coogan Account or Piggy Bank?

It is required by law in California and New York  that a percentage of a child’s entertainment industry earnings be deposited into a Coogan Account, a.k.a. a Coogan Blocked Trust Account. In California, only 10 days after getting an entertainment work permit, you must have also opened this special Coogan account specifically for that purpose.

The California Child Actor’s Bill (a.k.a. the Coogan Bill, the Coogan Law, and the Coogan Act) came into being after all the money of child actor, Jackie Coogan, was spent by his parents.  He was left with nothing from all his hard work as a child actor. As a young adult, he filed a lawsuit, but was only able to get back a very small amount of all the money he made.  For more details on this topic, see “What Is a Coogan Account?”

A question many parents ask is “Exactly how much of the child’s earnings must be deposited into this Coogan Account?”

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What Is a Coogan Account?

Jackie Coogan Wikipedia

Shortly after our arrival in L.A., I was told I needed to set up a Coogan account  for my daughter.

I did not know what a Coogan account was, why I needed one for my daughter, how it would work, or what to look for when setting up this sort of account.

Since I knew so little about a Coogan account, when I called banks to inquire about it, I struggled to explain what I needed.

Our family was maintaining two households at that time, one in South Carolina and one in Burbank, and that was a big drain on our finances. So what was most important to me then was to minimize the up-front cost in setting up the account.

So, I asked only two questions. First, I asked:

• Do you have Coogan accounts?
  

And if the answer to that question was yes, I asked:

• How much money is required to open the account?

So I opened the account at the place requiring the smallest initial deposit, but was this the wisest choice?  This was important, but there were other things I should have thought about as well.

If your child is just getting started in showbiz, you may be wondering, “What is a Coogan account?” and “Why do I need a Coogan account for my young actor or model?”

Continue reading for answers to these questions and other information related to setting up a Coogan account. Read more »