The New Orleans Saints have been in the news a lot this offseason. Not always for good reasons. Now they got another headline they probably didn't need. Head Coach Sean Payton has filed for divorce. The usual reasons of "irreconciliable difference" is cited.
Although he coaches in New Orleans, the filings are in Tarrant County, Texas. This is due to a quirk of coaching in the NFL. Coaching jobs can be short in duration. Better to have one home for the kids while dad heads out to work. Makes for not seeing a lot of dad during the season, but at least the kids aren't uprooted every few years.
Mrs. Payton has counterfiled for residential and legal custody of the kids. That means she wants the kids to remain in Tarrant County. Legal custody means she wants to make the decisions about the kids' upbringing. Joint legal might be preferred (at least in Maryland) but sometimes it doesn't work. I can see a judge looking at the work hours of an NFL head coach and just saying, "Decisions about the kids need to be made in a timely fashion, Dad can't do that most months of the year, Mom gets to make decisions." This does not mean Dad is cut out. Dad still has a right to know what is going on with his children. Period. No hiding information just because Mom is the decision-maker.
At least with Payton's year long suspension from coaching, he will have time to devote to this case. On the other hand, it is a suspension without pay. That could make calculating child support interesting. If Dad technically has no income (I forget what Payton is doing this year to keep busy since he can't even attend the Saints games), how can he support the kids? On the other hand, he is expected to work in order to be able to support the kids. Since the Saints have said Payton is coming back as HC next year, a smart lawyer would ask the judge to calculate the child support on his contractual income. Let Payton's lawyer argue against it.
Showing posts with label saints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saints. Show all posts
Monday, July 2, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
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.
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.
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