Former NBA Star Kenyon Martin’s Case Highlights Need for Appropriate Child Support Amounts

After a divorce, you may not have all of the answers right away. You may not always know how you are going to survive month to month, from a financial perspective. You may not have completely adjusted to having to abide by a parenting plan, in order to see your children.

As a father, you want to be able to provide for them and to see them as often as possible. You want to be able to pick them up from school, help them with their science homework, and create lasting memories that they and you will cherish for years to come.

This life still is possible. However, the financial circumstances of both you and your co-parent can change over time. Your job can change. Your co-parent may get remarried. Your children can age out of the necessity of formal child support circumstances, all causing the need for modification.

Understanding modification

Pursuing child support modification requires a family law attorney willing to fight for the financial future of yourself and your family. You need a family law attorney who understand the unique circumstances that men and fathers face in family court and is willing to go the extra mile to ensure that your child support responsibility reflects an amount that both allows you to provide for your children while not sending you into poverty.

The reality is that your co-parent cannot act if a child’s best interests in they are sending you into poverty through unreasonably high child support payments. Appropriate amounts need to be set, in order to ensure that payments are not missed, due to basic living expenses.

Having your child support modified does not mean you love your children any less. There is a stigma attached to modifying child support, and many fail to realize the emotional side of the situation. When a couple divorces, there is an amount of trust lost, and when you, as the paying parent, give your ex-spouse and co-parent money, you want to know that it is going toward the care and well-being of your shared children. Because of the lost trust, it can be challenging to know that for certain.

The amount of uncertainty involved in a financial future, where you are paying child support outside of your financial well-being, can be compounded when your life circumstances change.

The case

Kenyon Martin was an NBA All-Star power forward during his professional playing career and a National College Player of the Year at the University of Cincinnati. He retired from professional basketball in 2015, after earning over $108 million during his career.

He and his ex-wife, Heather, divorced in 2007 and had agreed to a child support agreement for their children, two of which still are minors: 16-year-old Cierra and 14-year-old Kamron. They also have a son, KJ, who is a freshman power forward at Vanderbilt University.

The decree stated that Kenyon was to pay $3,000 a month in child support, and presently, Kenyon is looking to modify the agreement, based on his current income, according to The Blast.

The child support agreement also calls for Keyon to make several other payments that fell under the designation of “additional child support,” including a new car for Heather every three years, her credit card up to $7,000 a month, private school for the kids, a nanny, and various other expenses, according to Yahoo News.

Kenyon states in the court documents that he is in the process of selling his home in Calabasas and moving to Atlanta “where the cost of living is cheaper because as is clear, I cannot afford to continue in the manner that I have.”

In addition to his agreement with ex-wife Heather, he also pays $3,181 a month for another daughter and has two children with his current wife, Shakira.

Talk to your attorney

While set in the circumstances of a professional athlete, Kenyon’s case is thematically similar to the plight that you may be facing in your child support agreement. You may not be able to sustain your financial well-being, and you may require modification.

If that is the case, contact your family law attorney, so that you and your family can live without the stress of looming financial doom, and you can be the parent your children need.