Spouses who make alimony payments sometimes need the alimony agreement modified to account for changes in life circumstances. One of the more common reasons why alimony payments are adjusted is when the paying spouse loses their job and can no longer afford to make payments.

Recently the possible NFL and NBA lockouts have been a topic of conversation. But attached to the issue of professional sports players getting paid, the issues of alimony and child support payment have come up as well. Will alimony and child support agreements have to be modified if the players and the league owners cannot agree on who gets paid what?

Unless the NFL and NBA reach agreements with the players' unions, players will be out of work and will as a result have reduced incomes. In looking forward, many players appear to be considering having their child support and alimony payments reduced to coincide with their income reduction.

There are several instances where a player has multiple children to support and multiple ex-wives that all receive alimony payments. With a much lower income, it would be more difficult to make those monthly payments on time.

If a lockout occurs, the players and their families are not the only ones affected by the reduced income. Their agents would also be affected by the amount of commission they make. One particular agent noted that he had to file for a modification of the alimony payments he was making in a prior NBA lockout.

Ultimately, parents should be responsible for supporting their children. But things can happen out of the control of the spouse making the payments that make it necessary to consider modifying alimony and child support payments.

Source: Bloomberg online, "NFL Players Poised to Cut Alimony, Making Wives Industry Dispute Victims," Scott Soshnick, 08 May 2011