Avoiding CS

[GoDiegoGo]

Married 7 years, separated 1 year, 2 kids 5&6, joint custody with 50/50 access.
I receive permanent disability, stbx is on OW.
No orders for support have ever been made. I had the kids full time after separating and ex had weekend parenting time for 7 months, before we switched to 50/50.
Now ex is asking for support based on zero income, even though our incomes are equal her source does not count.
Ex has a degree in engineering (1996) and degree in computers (2004), then worked in her computer feild from 2004 to 2009. Based on this, she could work and make a high salary... however claims no jobs are available in her feild and no regular minimum wage jobs available either.
At our settlement conference, she said she just got her security guard license, but there are only night shifts available and she can't work those...
The judge then said I should offer a without prejudice interim offer based on a minimum wage salary imputted on her.
I immidiately sent her this offer offering a little higher than what mysupportcalculator says.
She declined the offer, not wanting anything imputted on her, and immideately applied for schol to become a nurse.
How is this going to affect me?
Can she still have min wage imputted if she's in school?
She is already highly educated in 2 different fields, good work experience, then recently got a security guard license, now starting school to be a nurse...

I was at home on disability looking after the kids when she decided not to return to work, so she didn't give up her career for me or anything.

[Mess]

I'm in school and working 3 jobs. I get work from the university teaching, they would give me more hours, but, well, I have 2 other jobs. My other jobs give me as many hours as I want when I'm off school so there is mutual loyalty there. Anyway, to say, if she is in school, there is no fricken way she has zero income. You cannot apply for OSAP and say you have zero income and be taken seriously. There are a huge number of opportunities and there is a campus employment centre that will write your resumes for you, job fairs, online employment postings, etc. etc. etc. If I'd known it was this good I'd have gone back to school ages ago.

Judges aren't stupid, and they have been to school themselves. They know the opportunities that are available. Just stick to your guns, make an offer assuming the ex earns $20k (minimum wage) which will be reasonable in the eyes of the courts.

If you are on disability, I'm not sure what you receive but it should end up being a wash at least with 50/50 custody. Your ex is being absurd.

[FightingForFamily]

There is case law that this type of behaviour can be intentional underemployment and as a result requires an income to be imputed.

[Exquizique]

Agreed that you should stick to your guns about having at least a minimum wage income imputed to her. I would even go as far as ask that she be imputed an income of the highest amount that she earned when she was working from 2004-2009. I've read case law where parents who choose to return to school when they could have returned to earning a decent wage (ie. returning to school to "upgrade" was unncessary/irresponsible) was imputed the income that they were previously earning before quitting their job or at the very least a minimum wage income.

[Rioe]

http://www.ottawadivorce.com/forum/f...-school-12066/

Here is a thread where we discussed imputing an income on someone who goes back to school. There are some links to Canlii case law.

[GoDiegoGo]

Thanks for the replies.


I reviewed the other thread and the Canlii case law mentioned... in that case, the respondent was originally imputed with an income of $30k, however the judge found that his return to school was valid and therefore reduced his imputed income to only a part-time job of $16.5k.


I would assume that in my case, her return to school is not valid... but you never know. With a computer degree, you can always claim that technology has changed and you need to upgrade. However with her education and experience, there are a ton of jobs available. But then she got a security guard license which was her "retraining", then decided she didn't want to do it. Now she is not upgrading her skills, but starting a whole new career path.


In 2008/2009, she was making $40k year at a small company. Today's jobs with her experience are offering $80k+.


I receive cpp disability and a non-taxable income replacement benefit from my insurance company, totalling $3400/mth - $40k/yr.


Even though our incomes are currently the same, her's does not count. Therefore, based on my (self imputed grossed) income and a min wage for her, cs is $419/mth. My net income says that no ss should be paid, and based on my grossed it says $40/mth should be paid. I didn't know what to do, so I just gave her a "without prejudice/interim" offer saying no ss, but $459/mth for cs.


This would be very hard for me to afford, but I did what the SC judge recommended to save face.

----------------
- We both currently live off support which means that we are unable to support ourselves, let alone someone else.
- She used to make $40k working, but could now easily make more. She obviously doesn't want to work to avoid paying me support. However I did tell her that I would sign a letter saying I would not come after her for support.
- My goal is to impute an income equal to mine, so that no support is ordered.


She was originally asking for $3k+/mth in support. After our SC and my offer which she declined, she reduced her offer to $2400/mth in support. I only make $3400 and live in and pay 100% of the matrimonial home's bills, while she rented a new condo and her parents moved in with her.


Even though I have given her a "without prejudice / interim" offer,
Can I still argue in court that no support should be paid?

[Looking ahead]

If she cant accept security placement because of working night shifts, I hope she has considered nursing can be 50% night shifts depending on the area you work.
Good luck.