During child support and maintenance determinations, the Court will assess parties’ incomes. Not only will the Court look at the numbers, but in some cases, the circumstances surrounding one’s employment will be relevant. If historically you have made a lot of money, and intentionally decrease your income to avoid paying support, you are likely going to run into problems. If you have an advanced degree but choose to work a minimum wage job, you similarly may have some problems. Likewise, choosing to work just 20 hours a week when full-time work is available to you may not be acceptable.

In any of these circumstances, absent a good reason for the choice, the Court may impute you with income that you do not have. This means the Court will determine your income to be higher than what you actually make, for the purposes of a support calculation. The Court will assign a number that it feels is representative of what you should be making given your ability to work at a higher paying job or more hours.

For example, if you make $30,000 per year, but based on your qualifications, you could be making $80,000 per year, the court will use $80,000 per year when doing its support calculations. Or, if you work 20 hours per week for $20 per hour, but there is no reason you cannot work 40 hours, your income will be determined to be $20 per hour for 40 hours per week, instead of the 20 hours you are actually working. Because your income is being determined to be higher, you are going to be ordered to pay more support than you would on your actual income. Or, if you are the support recipient, and your income is being used in the support calculation, the other party will be ordered to pay less support. Though you are being imputed with income, you are not being forced to quit your job and find a higher paying one, pick up more hours, or start working altogether, but it may not be a bad idea considering you will need to find a way to meet your support obligation.