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  • Intentional Under-Employment

    Situation:
    I'm a couple of years into the court system. Before separation, my wife was working about %80 of full time hours, after moving out; she now works approx %35-40 of full time hours. She could easily be working 40 hours+ each week. The first year after separation she made approx %60 of what she had made the previous year.
    There are 8-10 job posting a week at her place of employment, and they call to see if she can work pretty much everyday she is scheduled to be off.
    She intentionally stopped working as much as she did in an attempt for sole custody.

    I currently pay CS in a joint parenting arrangement, I actually have the kids more that %50 of the time; and I also pay SS based on her earnings the year we separated, based on an interim order.

    Her and her lawyer have not brought forth last year's earning yet.

    I'm curious to know if the 'intentionally under-employed' aspect will come back and bite her, or will I be labeled with ever increasing support payments.
    Has anyone been able to prove the ex is under-employed and have the courts back them up on it?
    At case conference, the judge did lay out that she was expected to work her way towards full time hours, but since then, she has done the opposite.

  • #2
    I know that had she worked part time during the marriage it may not be expected that she work more after the marriage. Depends on the situation. I think that they could impute income based on what she was working before but I wonder if they would impute it all the way to full time as she wasn't working full time before.

    They wouldn't ever impute MORE than full time( you mentioned that she could work 40+ hours) I suspect this is why you are paying based on her working on 80% and she hasn't made this an issue.

    How old are the kids? What kind of childcare arrangements are there?

    Comment


    • #3
      The kids are 11, 8 and 4.
      With my job, I have a very flexible schedule; I can work from home if required. So when I have the kids, there is no childcare. She can't work without getting childcare, however, I could look after them more; but she has been pretty adamant that she will deny me access every chance she gets. When she currently works, she would rather pay a babysitter then let me pick up the children early.
      Before separation, when she worked, and I worked, the kids had local babysitters.
      I can also add, that even though she was scheduled to only work %80 of the time, there were many weeks where she did pick up extra shifts and was gone in excess of 40 hours. She also was having an affair during this time which put her time away from the home even more, a lot more; but as I've seen in court; that hasn't been a factor.
      She could be making wages in the same range as myself starting tomorrow, but she is determined to have CS and SS until the youngest is 18.
      My impression from the courts so far has been, that if you are not willing to help yourself, but then the courts won't back this position up, she has been told 3 times now to start working more, but there has been no bite behind the court system to enforce it.
      It is frustrating, I understand making the same standard of living at the two households; but she is intentionally lowering the standard at both places, hoping to have the courts increase my support payments because her income becomes less and less each year.
      Thnaks for the reply, it has been very stressful going through the motions.

      Comment


      • #4
        I guess what i meant about my opinion about the courts imputing income at her previous wages was based on line 150 of the income tax - which if she was picking up extra shifts and working more then 80% then it would reflect that and that is probably what you are paying it at? Or did she slow down with the extra shifts before the last 3 years that it is usually based on?

        Comment


        • #5
          It's funny how timing is everything:
          previous years: She used to work close to full time, some weeks more than full time hours.
          Year 1: She then had our 3rd child, so took 1/2 year off due to 1st half of mat leave - lower than normal income
          Year 2: She then took another 1/2 year off due to 2nd half of mat leave - lower than normal income
          Year 3: She then started working again at around the %80 range, started having the affair, I should note that she took two months off due to the affair also, which drastically lowered her annual income again.
          So the years 1-3 on her line 150 show her not making as much as she could have or use to before the 3rd child.
          As for her sched, basically works out to each month she:
          works a week;
          has the kids for 2 weeks;
          sits around for a week.
          As for proving she can pick up more shifts, I have got a listing of the job postings in her department, showing lots over the last year; also the union keeps track of all shifts she turns down. She actually applied for a lesser shift rotation when this all started.

          Comment


          • #6
            In your agreement, are you paying CS based on offset... or based on the full table amount?

            Comment


            • #7
              Paying CS based on the offset amount based on Gross Income.
              Paying SS based on Net disposable income.

              Comment


              • #8
                If a person is turning down work and income especially when the children is not with them or in their care, in the off weeks, I would take the matter back to court, since the payable support is based on offset amounts of income. Have your proof in place ie: statement from her employer turning down shifts.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I'll let yah know in a few months as my ex has decided not to work this fall (more fun working the system?). As well, she wants full daycare. I, on the other hand, work full time, have the child 50% of the time, and require no daycare at all. I can also look after the child on HER time. The mind boggles.

                  My trial begins soon. Bring popcorn.

                  BTW, was your offset amount court ordered, or was this something you both agreed on out-of-court.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Decent Dad
                    My trial begins soon. Bring popcorn.
                    Hey CatvsLion, your looking for a part-time job. What a brilliant idea. Selling tickets, popcorn and soft drinks in family court to watch "the show".

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Grace,

                      I always invite friends and family to my trials and motions. I usually encourage popcorn. It's better than TV.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Grace
                        Hey CatvsLion, your looking for a part-time job. What a brilliant idea. Selling tickets, popcorn and soft drinks in family court to watch "the show".

                        LMAO ....

                        what is funny is when I was in highschool I used to watch court cases for fun on my days off.. isn't that disturbing? All criminal cases though... some strange stuff and some stranger people out there

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Better than Judge Judy??? Or how about my favorite Nancy Grace.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Decent Dad
                            BTW, was your offset amount court ordered, or was this something you both agreed on out-of-court.
                            My ex's inital application was:
                            sole custody, me move out and then she would move away with the kids, full CS and SS.

                            Did I mention she decided to have her affair with an 18 month at home?

                            She will not settle on anything, we have been to court 8 times and all the judges have said the same thing to her, but she is taking it to trial, thinking she will get sole custody of the kids because she is the mom.
                            That is what I'm working with. So you can see that it was court ordered.
                            we have offered settlement meetings all the way along, but she just keeps launching court motions against myself.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              DaggnOut, what is the interim order for custody now? If she is taking you to court over and over again and not being reasonable you should be getting court costs after each motion.

                              Comment

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