Singer Sia and her estranged husband Daniel Bernad have reached an agreement on child support and custody of their young son, ending months of bitter court filings that included allegations of substance abuse and a failed bid for emergency sole custody, court documents reviewed by PEOPLE show.

Under the terms filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Sia will pay Bernad $42,500 per month in child support for their son, Somersault Wonder Bernad. The payments began on April 1 and will continue until the boy turns 18, or until he graduates high school or turns 19, whichever comes first.

The agreement also grants the former couple joint legal custody, with a set physical custody schedule that started the same day. The deal spells out specific weekday and weekend custody for Bernad, along with a detailed holiday split: Bernad gets Father's Day and parts of Hanukkah, while Sia gets Mother's Day, Easter, and Christmas. Guidelines for vacations, school breaks, and communication between the parents are also included.

Financial obligations go well beyond monthly payments

The 50-year-old "Chandelier" singer bears the lion's share of financial responsibility for the child. Beyond the monthly support, Sia must cover private school tuition, agreed-upon extracurricular activities, uninsured healthcare costs, and health insurance for her son.

She is also required to maintain a $5 million life insurance policy naming Somersault as beneficiary, or establish a trust providing equivalent support, in the event she dies before the boy reaches adulthood. The support may end earlier upon death, marriage, emancipation, or further court order.

Child support disputes involving wealthy public figures have a way of revealing just how far apart two people's lives can drift after a split. The same dynamic has played out in other high-profile child support battles, where the gap between a parent's means and their willingness to pay becomes the central drama.

How the divorce unfolded

Sia and Bernad married in 2022. Their son was born on March 27, 2024, according to divorce documents previously obtained by PEOPLE. Sia filed for divorce in March 2025, and the proceedings quickly turned contentious.

In October 2025, Bernad filed a request seeking sole legal and physical custody of the child. In that filing, he alleged Sia was "an unfit and unreliable parent struggling with substance abuse and addiction."

Sia responded the following day. In her filing, she stated she had been sober for more than six months and was actively participating in a recovery program that included weekly testing and a sober companion.

PEOPLE reported that Sia wrote in her filing:

"My recovery has been a cornerstone of my life."

A judge ultimately denied Bernad's request for emergency sole custody. The court found, in language from the documents, that "sufficient exigency for the requested emergency relief has not been shown at this time."

Celebrity court filings have a way of surfacing allegations that would stay private in any other family. The pattern holds whether the dispute involves a former senator's personal entanglements or a pop star's custody fight, the courtroom strips away the public image and leaves the raw details on the record.

Bernad's earlier financial demands

Before the custody agreement was reached, Bernad had sought far more than child support. He previously requested temporary spousal support of $250,856 per month, plus additional funds for legal and forensic accounting fees. In his filings, Bernad stated he had no income after leaving his medical career to pursue a business venture with Sia.

The issue of spousal support was resolved separately in December 2025. The terms of that resolution were not detailed in the court documents reviewed by PEOPLE.

The sheer scale of Bernad's initial demands, a quarter-million dollars a month in spousal support alone, underscores just how much money can distort the dynamics of a divorce. When one spouse earns at the level Sia does, the other spouse's financial claims can balloon into figures that would fund a small business.

Messy personal disputes involving public figures are nothing new. Readers following the intersection of fame and legal drama have seen similar dynamics play out in cases like lawsuits alleging personal misconduct by well-known figures, where the courtroom becomes the venue for airing grievances that might otherwise stay behind closed doors.

What the agreement means for the child

The joint legal custody arrangement means both parents retain decision-making authority over their son's upbringing. The physical custody schedule, with its detailed holiday and vacation provisions, is designed to give both Sia and Bernad meaningful time with the boy.

Somersault Wonder Bernad, born in March 2024, is just over a year old. The $5 million life insurance or trust requirement is an unusual provision that signals the court, or the parties, wanted a financial safety net in place for the child's future regardless of what happens to either parent.

Sia has said differences in lifestyle contributed to the separation, though the specific details of that claim were not elaborated in the filings reviewed by PEOPLE.

High-profile breakups and their fallout continue to draw public attention, whether the subject is a celebrity relationship unraveling in public or a custody dispute playing out in a Los Angeles courtroom. The common thread is that money, children, and public scrutiny make for a volatile combination.

Open questions remain

Several details remain unclear. The exact terms of the spousal support resolution from December 2025 have not been made public. The judge's name does not appear in the reporting. And the full custody schedule, beyond the holiday examples, has not been disclosed.

What is clear is that Bernad's most aggressive claims, sole custody, emergency relief, and a quarter-million in monthly spousal support, did not survive contact with the courtroom. The judge found no emergency. The parties settled on joint custody. And the monthly support figure, while substantial at $42,500, is a fraction of what Bernad originally sought.

Courts exist to sort out exactly these kinds of disputes, and to protect children from being used as leverage. When the system works, both parents share responsibility and the child's interests come first. Whether that holds here will depend on what happens after the ink dries.