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Imputation of Income in an Orlando, Florida Area Marital and Family Law Case

Your spouse or other parent could earn more money than you do. Within the last 5 years, your spouse or the other parent may have earned substantially more money than they are currently earning. What can you do about that in your child support case? You can request that the trial court impute income to the other party. 

When the Trial Court Can Impute Income

The trial court can impute income when a party is voluntarily underemployed. That means the party is not making the full potential of what they could earn in the community. The court can impute income as long as the facts of such imputation of income are supported by competent substantial evidence. 

How do you do that? You can impute income to the opposing party by hiring and using a vocational expert to testify as your expert witness to show the employment that the party is qualified to work in the local community and that the jobs that are available to an underemployed party in the local community. A vocational expert can testify to the jobs available in the community that a party is qualified to work. 

Gathering Substantial Evidence

To be successful the imputation of income must be supported by competent substantial evidence. A trial court’s decision on whether to impute income is reviewed for abuse of discretion. The trial court’s analysis includes whether a party is making substantially less than other jobs available that they could do in the community. 

Where a party’s underemployment is voluntary, the employment potential and probable earnings level of the party shall be determined based upon his or her recent work history, occupational qualifications, and prevailing earnings level in the community if such information is available. Moreover, income may not be imputed at a level which the former spouse has never earned, absent special circumstances. 

Where There’s Insufficient Evidence

The question for analysis is whether there are jobs in the local job market that the party is qualified to work. There needs to be more than reports stating the national median salaries for a relevant position. Further, such reports might not specifically address the availability of jobs in the area where the party lives. 

Where the only evidence of the amount of income imputed to a party were reports stating national median salaries for relevant positions and neither of the reports specifically addressed the availability of jobs in the area where the party resides nor the salary payable for jobs in the Central Florida area, then the imputation of income would not survive on appeal. 

If you have more questions regarding a Marital and Family Law matter, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not form an attorney client privilege.