Imputing income for shared custody

[Motorizer II]

Hello, everybody.
It's been a long time... so long, my old account is no.longer active.

Anyways....

Have been in a shared custody situation for the last 6.5 years.
Always pay on time, always update my CS as necessary.
BM has never had a full time job, due to college, etc.
I have always paid full CS, as to not cause issues.

After 6.5 years, I've been thinking that she has had it pretty good.
I have asked numerous times for financial info I order to.properly calculate shared CS, but always rebuffed.
Finally, I got 2017 data, in which she claims only $15000 or so in income.
I am of the opinion that she has intentionally underemployed herself.
She refuses to take any job that doesn't fit her education and schedule.... and there isn't a lot of gigs out there that pay well, in her field.
Is it possibe to have an income imputed?
I'm not talking anything crazy, merely minimum wage at full time hours.
I mentioned this, and was met with severe criticism.
Is it worth it, for an estimated 250-300 a moth?
Might be easier to shut up, I stead of incurring legal fees that could dwarf any potential CS.

[Motorizer II]

Anybody experienced anything similar?....

[HammerDad]

There is case law that has said that going to school is a choice, and that is it is a form of under-employment. After 6 years, the ex is more of a career student than a person looking for employment skills.


How much longer is the course they are on? Is there likely employment prospects in the foreseeable future? These are the questions I would be asking when determining if the fight is worth it or not. If it doesn't look like the ex has any intention of working for the next few years, then I would likely pursue it. Is it a slam dunk case? They never really are, but I think 6 years of schooling with no prospects of being out of school would be sufficient to show a pattern of under-employment.

[kate331]

Would you be comfortable self repping? She may qualify for a legal aid lawyer and you would incur substantial legal costs. That said, it may be worth it for future post secondary expenses for the children down the road, to do it now.

[HammerDad]

Here as case that would appear to be on point:


https://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/do...&resultIndex=2


There are also references and citations listed that you can read.

[Motorizer II]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.
I guess I should explain further....

BM has been out of school for a couple years now, but hasn't been able to find full time work in her field (Social Work).
Found a casual on call job, no more than 15-20 hours per week.... but was recently laid off.
Refuses to look into full time employment outside of said field.
So, she has been working, but not to her full potential.
I've tried getting financial info, but only recently got disclosure.
Been paying full CS, kinda think she could be doing more.
But I guess she has been working.
It could be worse.

[kate331]

Been paying full CS, kinda think she could be doing more.

Do you pay full table support or offset support based on your shared custody?

[Motorizer II]

Well....
My income of $xxxxxx minus her income of $0 would equalify full CS from me to her.
It's hard to run a household when I'm shelling out $xxx to her household.
Not to mention I'm paying full Section 7 expenses, as she refuses to help.

[kate331]

Opps, brain feeze. Absolutely I would under these circumstances try and get an income imputed. Both able bodied parents need to contribute financially. I'm assuming these children are all in school full-time so any daycare expenses are at a minimum.

I still think you should consider self repping or just hire a lawyer to go over paperwork, to keep your legal fees at a minimum.

[Motorizer II]

Small update...

Apparently Mom has a full time job.
Still wants to use Line 150 off of 2017 tax return to establish CS amounts... but she didn't work last year.
Wouldn't it be more accurate to use current income to determine CS?

[rockscan]

You are technically supposed to use most current income and if she wasn’t working last year but is now then yes you should be using her actual current income.

Your argument back is that you will continue to update accordingly based on her most current income should it change in the future.

[blinkandimgone]

You ask for the last paystub showing year to date and use that as current.

[cashcow4ex]

The Fed Gov't should pull their over inflated heads out of their asses and include in the Child Support guidelines a clause that states "for calculation purposes the very minimum child support possible will be calculated at full time minimum wage subject to increase as minimum wage increases"


Having to go to court, lose wages, pay lawyers and court costs over this kind of garbage is ridiculous!