Basketball player Jason Caffey played on two NBA championship teams with the Chicago Bulls in the mid- to late-1990s. He was traded to the Golden State Warriors in 1998 and signed a seven year, $35 million contract. In 2000, Caffey began playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. The team bought out the last two years of his contract in 2003 for almost $12 million. He hasn’t played professional basketball since – and has spent the last few years in and out of courthouses dealing with paternity suits and, despite getting paid MILLIONS over the years, delinquent child support enforcement cases. Caffey is the father of 10 children by eight women. That’s not a typo – TEN children. Eight different child support payments.

At least two of those cases are pending in the courts right now. In one case, Karen Russell – mother of Caffey’s 15 year old son – is fighting to collect delinquent child support payments. Russell ran afoul of the federal bankruptcy court earlier this year when she and her attorney successfully collected money from Caffey after Caffey had filed for bankruptcy. The court in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama had issued an arrest warrant for Caffey for contempt of court, due to his failure to pay child support. Caffey and his attorney negotiated to pay a sum of money in order to get Caffey out of jail after his arrest. Because Caffey had filed for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court said that Russell had to stay her attempts to collect past due child support pending the resolution of the bankruptcy case. Russell claims that Caffey owes over $100,000 in past due child support and attorney’s fees.

Child support is not dischargeable in bankrupcty. Under federal law, a bankruptcy judge cannot wipe away Caffey’s child support obligations. But all creditors, including the mothers of his children, are supposed to stop all efforts to collect their debts while Caffey works out a bankruptcy plan with the court. Caffey has delayed the filing of a plan since last August.

This failure has also sparked the ire of another of Caffey’s former paramours, LoRunda Brown. Brown’s case against Caffey is pending in Atlanta, Georgia. The judge there also issued an arrest warrant for Caffey last year but the warrant was withheld because of the bankruptcy filing. Caffey allegedly owes Brown over $100,000 in past due support.

Although it is not entirely clear, Caffey is presumably seeking a modification of his child support obligations in each case. Child support orders are always modifiable after they are entered by the court. Either parent can go back to court to request a modification of the amount of child support due to significant and permanent changes in circumstances. In this case, Caffey could have (and, in hindsight, should have) gone to court after it became clear that he was not going to continue to play professional basketball to seek a modification of his support orders, bringing them in line with his non-NBA income. Had he done so, he may not be facing six-figure child support arrearages now.

Also See:

• Paternity Suits and Pro Athletes: The List