QUESTION
Can income be imputed when a former husband voluntarily stops working overtime?
Asked on Jun 19th, 2015 on Family Law - Illinois
More details to this question:
Here are the facts: A former husband is a municipal worker and he only works forty hours a week, however, he works two twenty hour shifts (so he is paid a considerable amount of overtime. He has done this for a very long time and the MSA and Uniform Order of Support have taken this overtime pay into account for the calculation of child support. Recently, the former husband has voluntarily stopped working these overtime hours. Can we impute his income like we could in any other situation where a non-custodial spouse voluntarily begins earning less in bad faith? What do you think? I can't find a shred of case law on the topic, but I find it impossible to believe that this issue has never come up.
1 ANSWER
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Hello, Anonymous.
Yes, generally it is possible to impute income from a non-custodial parent who is voluntarily earning less than his/her potential.
The Judge will look at factors such as the individual's employment history; income history; ability and opportunity to work/earn more; etc. Basically, the Judge will look at the totality of the circumstances, including any outstanding reasons as to why the income is less now than it was before, to determine if there may be any intentional underemployment. There may be valid reasons for the new hours, but it will all be fact-dependent, and ultimately it will, of course, be up to the Judge.
Cases like this can be somewhat tricky, so you may want to look into hiring a lawyer, or at least consulting with a local attorney to see how they may help you through the case.
I hope this helps.
Answered on Jun 23rd, 2015 at 4:08 PM