When Is Income Imputed for Child Support?

Specifically, courts will impute income when a parent is voluntarily unemployed or voluntarily underemployed. In other words, if a parent stops working or takes a job that does not meet their earning potential, courts may decide to step in and impute income for the purposes of child support.

How is imputed income determined?

How do Courts Determine How Much Income to Impute? When courts are deciding how much income to impute, they will need to determine the parent's "earning capacity," which means his or her income potential. This is composed of the parent's ability to work, willingness and opportunity to work.

What is imputed income in child support?

This case deals with the imputation of income for child support. Imputing income is when the judge finds that the amount of income the payor parent is claiming is not a fair reflection of their income.