Child Support Bounties

News broke this week that the New Orleans Saints had a bounty system under Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams.    He would pay defensive players $1500 for a take out (take the opposing player out of the game) and $1000 for  cart off (having a player carted off the field).    Such a system is strictly prohibited by NFL rules for obvious reasons.    There are rumors that Williams had bounty systems in place at both the Redskins where he was DC for many years and the Bills where he was head coach.   The League is investigating these rumors.   For more details, you can read Profootballtalk.com or CNN/SI.  

These bounties were paid to the players in addition to their regular salary.   Leaving aside the salary cap issues, this affects the income of the players.   Now, I don't know for sure if any players owed child support or were in the midst of calculating child support, but if any were, this could have serious implications.   Every state is different in how child support is calculated.   It's not just your regular paycheck.    It can be any money you receive.   Maryland has a pretty expansive definition of income for child support purposes.   It includes, income from work. gifts, overtime, pension, divdends from stocks and bonds, social security benefits and the like.   The full list is found at Md. Family Law Code Sec. 12-201.    Bonuses can be included.   If a bonus has been earned in the past and is likely to be earned in the future, it is considered income.   The reasoning is that is for the support of the children, so the bigger the pot of income the better the children can be supported.

It is most likely that the bounties would be considered bonuses.   They were awarded for performing one's job in a certain way.    Kinda like a violent version of employee of the week.  

One could argue that there is no guarantee that a player would earn that bonus since it requires actual injury to another player.    However, given the nature of the sport, the counter argument is that injury is likely especially is one is trying to do so.  

If a player owed back child support, the bounties should have been garnished to pay that.   If a player is the midst of calculating child support, the bounties should be part of the calculation.    After all, it is for the kids.