A retired professional football player will soon hear from a family law court as the mother of one of his children wants him to pay back child support.
Former wide receiver Chad Johnson, formerly known as Chad Ochocinco, has been in the news in Texas and across the country recently because of a tumultuous divorce, financial trouble and the end of his career. Now, the mother of one of his five children contends he owes her an unspecified amount of money in child support.
The woman, who shares a 2-year-old son with Johnson, said he failed to pay the $5,250 due in October and is constantly tardy with his child support. She has filed a court complaint and wants the judge to order Johnson to promptly get current on his outstanding debt. The mother also has asked the judge to put Johnson in jail for non-payment should he not make payments soon.
Johnson, 34, played for three teams in his NFL career. He said he always pays his child support for his son, adding he bought a house for the mother and son. The judge has yet to make a decision about the child support case.
Johnson and his wife, reality television personality Evelyn Lozada, married earlier this year. Just a month after their wedding, Lozada claimed Johnson head-butted her as they argued about the potential of marital indiscretions on Johnson’s part.
Until their divorce, the couple had signed a contract to appear in the reality show “Ev & Ocho,” which was canceled as a result of the fight and divorce. Johnson went to jail, was fired from the companies whose products he endorsed and was released from his most recent football team.
Parents have the right and the responsibility to seek legal help when court-ordered child support payments are not being paid. The parents who pay support should keep diligent records to prove each time a support check was paid, and cashed, in case they wind up in court.
Source: News One, “Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson Is A Deadbeat Dad?” Ruth Manuel-Logan, Nov. 19, 2012