Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Support

A parent who voluntarily quits a job may be faced with imputation of income in a Florida child support case. Imputation means a court treats a parent as if he or she were making a certain level of income even if that parent is earning less. It is seemingly meant to encourage parents to maintain their historic earning levels so that children receive the full amount of support to which they are entitled. Imputation was an issue in the case Gillespie v. Minning, 2D20-3430 (Fla. 2d DCA November 3, 2021).

The parties were divorced by final judgment in June 2018. At the time, the former wife was earning $78,000 per year as a teacher at a private school. Approximately three months after the final judgment was entered, the former wife filed a petition for relocation to Missouri. In May 2019, she moved to Missouri and obtained a full-time teaching position earning $57,600 per year. Her petition for relocation was eventually denied. The former wife then filed a petition for modification of time-sharing to account for the fact that she was in Missouri. She did not request child support. The former husband countered with a petition to establish child support and for majority time-sharing.

The parties eventually settled the time-sharing issues but left child support to be decided by the court. At a hearing on the petition, the court stated it had the authority to impute the former wife to her prior income of $78,000 per year because she voluntarily left her previous employment. The former wife objected, stating it was the former husband’s burden to request and show that imputation was appropriate. The trial court disagreed and imputed $78,000 to the former wife for purposes of calculating child support. The former wife appealed.

The appellate court reversed the imputation. The court noted there is a two step process in imputing income to an unemployed or underemployed parent: “(1) the determination of whether the parent's underemployment was voluntary, and (2) if so, the calculation of imputed income.” Since the former wife conceded she voluntarily left her employment position, the appellate court analyzed the second step and concluded the trial court did not apply this step appropriately. The appellate court held “While a spouse's work history is important and should be considered when determining an amount to impute, because the Former Wife relocated from Florida to Missouri the relevant job market was Fairgrove, Missouri, and the trial court's inquiry should have focused on that community. [. . .] We conclude that there was no competent substantial evidence to support the trial court's imputation of the $78,000 annual salary to the Former Wife. It was required to make statutory findings in compliance with section 61.30(2)(b) and to place the burden on the Former Husband to prove that the Former Wife could earn $78,000 in Fairgrove, Missouri. However, the trial court did not require the Former Husband to produce any evidence other than his bare assertion that she used to make that salary in Florida more than a year prior to the hearing. The trial court had no legal basis to rely solely upon a passing mention of the Former Wife's salary in the June 2019 order denying the Former Wife's petition for relocation.”

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