Minnesota football fans might be surprised to learn about the legal difficulties of retired NFL player Andre Rison. Despite his 11-year career playing for seven different football teams, he racked up approximately $300,000 in unpaid child support. His inability to keep up with minimum payments of $1,000 per month have resulted in the issuance of an arrest warrant.
Additionally, he failed a drug test and admitted that he takes marijuana candy to treat his pain. He told a newspaper that he experiences pain every day because of his NFL career. The league pays him a disability benefit of $3,300 per month. This income, along with the $9,000 a year that he earns working as an assistant high school football coach, has proven insufficient for him to keep up with his child support obligations.
In his newspaper interview, he expressed his frustration about his legal trouble. He said that he remains under the scrutiny of the courts for mistakes that he made years ago. Rison plans to turn himself into authorities.
As Rison’s situation illustrates, delinquent payments can result in serious legal troubles. A person who has fallen behind on child support payments could attempt to take control of the problem by contacting an attorney. Income guidelines used to calculate payments could be explained by the attorney. If a change in income has caused the person’s financial problems, then an attorney could petition the court to modify the child support order. This effort could result in the court lowering the person’s monthly obligation, which might halt the slide into delinquency.