When Terrell “T.O.” Owens didn’t bother to show up for his July 12 child support hearing, a judge threatened to lock him up. So naturally, T.O. found his way to the Atlanta family court on Thursday morning to, first, not wind up behind bars, and second, settle his nearly $20,000 child support tab to one of his baby mommas, Melanie Smith, reports TMZ.
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Smith, who claims that her baby daddy stiffed her a few times on child support payments for their 7-year-old daughter, squared off with T.O. in court on Thursday.
The dueling pair’s previous agreement stipulated that T.O. give Smith $5,000 a month in support payments. The miffed Mom claims that she has not seen a red cent from T.O. in four months.
In order to avoid the slammer, not only did T.O. pay Smith the monies he owed her, but he also took care of her $12,000 attorney’s fees at his latest hearing, according to the court documents.
Paying what he owes Smith is well and good, but what she reportedly would like to see happen is that he spend more time with his daughter, according to her lawyer Randy Kessler.
“What she really wants is for him to have a relationship with his child,” Kessler told an onslaught of reporters outside of the courtroom. According to Smith, T.O. has only seen the child a mere eight to 10 times.
This year, T.O. has been adamant about the fact that his child support financial obligations should be lowered due to his persona non grata status as a league player. In other words, “He ain’t got no job!”
Unfortunately, T.O. experienced a dramatic fall from grace because he reportedly was an overbearing, egotistical player who stirred up a tempest at almost every NFL team he’s ever played with.
The 38-year-old wide receiver then joined the Indoor Football League‘s (IFL) Allen Wranglers in February of this year and life was good…for a minute. T.O. was reportedly making six-figures as part owner of the IFL team and even managed to get his groove back on the field, but by May, his situation went south.
Watch T.O. make three touchdowns for his IFL team here:
T.O. opted to sit out on some pretty crucial road games and reportedly shucked his obligations at a few team-sponsored charity events. The IFL team’s powers-that-be were not happy with T.O.’s ‘tude and drop-kicked him to the curb.
Reportedly, Smith is willing to discuss lowering his monthly child support payments.
