As readers in New Jersey know, $15,000 is a lot of money. This can even be true for a professional basketball player; particularly one who no longer plays for a team in the states. Quincy Douby, former guard with the Sacramento Kings who now plays in China, is being asked to pay that amount in child support each month.
His ex-girlfriend is claiming that Douby had been paying for her home, where she lived with their 5-year-old daughter, but recently stopped, forcing her to move in with her parents. Douby claims that he’s been paying $1,500 a month since his daughter was born. He likened his ex to a gold digger who wants to imitate the “Basketball Wives” lifestyle. Her attorney says she only wants what she’s legally entitled to, and claims that amount is 17% of Douby’s salary.
While the amount of child support a non-custodial parent is required to provide to the custodial parent is determined at the state level, there are some general guidelines that can be applied universally. One of these guidelines is that the final support award is determined primarily by the income of the parties. It is therefore important that parents understand what child support guidelines consider “income,” and what funds are excluded from the definition of income.
The child support guidelines in each state contain a definition of “gross income.” Generally, it is usually defined to include money received from any source. These sources can include salaries and wages, income from overtime and second jobs, pension income, capital gains, Social Security benefits, gifts and prizes and alimony received from other former spouses.
Most residents in New Jersey probably won’t be expected to pay $15,000 a month for child support. However, if they don’t fully understand how child support is determined, they may still be surprised when the final support award is made.
Source: New York Daily News, “Ex wants $15,000 monthly child support from former NBA guard Quincy Douby,” Oren Yaniv, Sept. 5, 2012
