Child support is an important component to a child’s life if his or her parents are not together. The inclination of some fathers might be to reject the notion of paternity and refuse to pay what they are required to. This is true even if the amount at stake is relatively low.
When the child support case involves a professional athlete, however, the ramifications can be severe — and the case may gain national attention. That is the case with Nerlens Noel, a player with the Philadelphia 76ers. Noel has been sued for child support by a woman who says he is the father of her child.
Noel actually has yet to play a game in the NBA. He was injured before the 2013-14 season and was out all year. However, he still earned his rookie year salary by virtue of being on the team’s roster.
According to the lawsuit, Noel and the child’s mother agreed that he would pay her $10,000 per month in child support. He did this, according to the suit, but only for three months, after which time he stopped. Noel now says that he isn’t sure if he is the child’s father, and wants to have a paternity test performed in order to establish this. It isn’t clear why he agreed to pay child support in the first place if he wasn’t sure of his role in the child’s life.
A case such as this one shows how important it can be to have the right legal advice as soon as possible when it comes to child support arrangements.
Source: Philadelphia, “Nerlens Noel Hit with Child Support Lawsuit,” Joel Mathis, June 16, 2014
