QUESTION
What income should be used to calculate child and spousal support?
Asked on Nov 21st, 2016 on Child Custody - California
More details to this question:
My soon to be ex-husband is a self-employed dentist. I have not worked in 15 years (raising five kids). He wants to use a reduced income to calculate child and spousal support because he wants more custody of kids. I'm arguing that we should use tax return income with some deductions added back (we write off car expenses, some meals and travel). Not to mention adding back depreciation and amortization. I would prefer him to have less custody of the kids. I'm arguing for a 60-40 split or a 70-30 split as I have always been the one to be home with the kids while he worked. This is what the kids and I are used to. But even with a 50-50 split, I think tax return income should be used to calculate child and spousal support. What is the standard? I feel like this should be pretty clear-cut.
1 ANSWER
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You describe a pretty accurate way of calculating his gross income for support purposes. The court would look at his income available for support and grant only appropriate deductions. The Court will sometimes look at a two year average for businesses that fluctuate. The custody and timeshare are generally determined first and then the timeshare is used in the child support calculation.
Answered on Dec 30th, 2016 at 5:23 PM