How long before full time income can be imputed?

[sddad]

What is the name of your state? CA

How long before full time income can be imputed?

Or the question is how long before a child is considered old enough so that a parent can't use the excuse of working only part time to take care of the newborn. Does it matter from state to state?

The reason I'm asking is because my ex was imputed with 75% of full time income because of her working only part time due to the newborn with her husband. The baby is now 8 months old. Is there a guideline somewhere that gives an idea on when is appropriate to ask for a review/modification of C/S? Obviously the child will be older and she can't use the same excuse to work part time.

TIA.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? CA

How long before full time income can be imputed?

Or the question is how long before a child is considered old enough so that a parent can't use the excuse of working only part time to take care of the newborn. Does it matter from state to state?

The reason I'm asking is because my ex was imputed with 75% of full time income because of her working only part time due to the newborn with her husband. The baby is now 8 months old. Is there a guideline somewhere that gives an idea on when is appropriate to ask for a review/modification of C/S? Obviously the child will be older and she can't use the same excuse to work part time.

TIA.

Its at the judge's discretion more or less. Some judges might not impute full time income until a child is of school age.

 

[sddad]

Thanks for the info. I think it's fairly obvious that the courts in CA give women more leniency than men for these types of situations. My C/S just about doubled when the judge ordered this. It makes me so upset that I'm responsible for her working only part time for a child that is not even mine. At the minimum keep things the same. That is why I would like to know when it would be appropriate to go back to court to get this revisited. Living in California is expensive and most people know it takes 2 full time incomes to afford living here. I've seen many people including friends and family members go back to work full time easily after 6 months to make ends meet. For my ex to be working only part time with an 8 month old that is not even mine and milking this opportunity is just plain working the loopholes in the system.

 

[onebreath]

I live in CA and I was ordered to seek FT employment when my baby was 10 months old. I had medical reasons I could not work ft and had to provide that. Outside of that, a judge can order full time income imputed. I will say, I had a very savvy attorney with me and he said he had never seen a mother get court ordered to work full time with a baby so young, so obviously that was an exception with this county. So yes, it does depend on the judge...this CS judge has always been harsh with me.

 

[sddad]

I thought I had the facts down right but apparently the court order was to go allow my ex to use her part time income of 20 hrs a week as salary vs. my full time salary for CS calculation. I original thought that it was imputed at 75% of full time but now after reading the details I am more upset. It is just plain wrong that they allow a part time salary to be used as income in this case. I don't have any problem with obligations for my children but to pay extra so that my ex can stay home with her own kid is so wrong.

Is it possible to get an appeal on the ruling? Is there such a thing?

 

[NSA4answers]

I thought I had the facts down right but apparently the court order was to go allow my ex to use her part time income of 20 hrs a week as salary vs. my full time salary for CS calculation. I original thought that it was imputed at 75% of full time but now after reading the details I am more upset. It is just plain wrong that they allow a part time salary to be used as income in this case. I don't have any problem with obligations for my children but to pay extra so that my ex can stay home with her own kid is so wrong.

Is it possible to get an appeal on the ruling? Is there such a thing?

Just out of curiosity, what is the difference in the child support with her income being fulltime vs her actual income? This happened in our case because I work part time and dad makes a considerable amount more than I do, EVEN IF my income were imputed as fulltime. The difference after running the calculations with my income as fulltime vs actual was $45/mo difference.

Keep in mind as well, If she works fulltime, she may also incur full time child care costs which will in turn, increase the child support. Try to weigh all the factors before getting so upset. The amount you may be getting upset over might be minimal and not worth all the anger or court battles.

I understand your frustration with having an increased child support obligation because your ex has a child not of your relationship that she stays home with. Is she also staying home with the child that you share? Also try to keep in mind that this child not being yours is your childs half brother/sister.

 

[sddad]

Just out of curiosity, what is the difference in the child support with her income being fulltime vs her actual income? This happened in our case because I work part time and dad makes a considerable amount more than I do, EVEN IF my income were imputed as fulltime. The difference after running the calculations with my income as fulltime vs actual was $45/mo difference.

Keep in mind as well, If she works fulltime, she may also incur full time child care costs which will in turn, increase the child support. Try to weigh all the factors before getting so upset. The amount you may be getting upset over might be minimal and not worth all the anger or court battles.

I understand your frustration with having an increased child support obligation because your ex has a child not of your relationship that she stays home with. Is she also staying home with the child that you share? Also try to keep in mind that this child not being yours is your childs half brother/sister.

NSA4answers - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The difference between her full time income vs actual income is the amount of hours. Instead of 40 hours a week we are looking at 20 hours a week. What this does is reduced her income from full to basically 1/2. So it is my full income vs. her 1/2 income for child support calculation. We are talking roughly $2300 instead of $4600 to be her income. I make roughly $600 more a month than she makes. It is her $2300 vs my $5200 instead of $4600 vs. $5200. And we share 1/2 legal and joint custody. The difference in support a month went from $323 to $655. An increase of $332. So it doubled just about.

The children we have together are at school ages 9 and 11 so this shouldn't be an issue to stay home with them. I have talked to many people and they are shocked as well that it came out like this.

 

[summerdawn]

I live in CA and I was ordered to seek FT employment when my baby was 10 months old. I had medical reasons I could not work ft and had to provide that. Outside of that, a judge can order full time income imputed. I will say, I had a very savvy attorney with me and he said he had never seen a mother get court ordered to work full time with a baby so young, so obviously that was an exception with this county. So yes, it does depend on the judge...this CS judge has always been harsh with me.

May I ask what county you are in? I am not working full time yet, and wasn't going to until my baby goes to preschool in 4 months. I really hope the judge will just impute FT pay and not order me to work yet. It's only 4 more months. I'm in San Bernardino County.