Question on Imputed Income from PSS for Support Modification

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

Hi Crystal,

My big court date is tomorrow and my ex finally sent me her financial information (two days before trial - trial is on Tuesday). It did not contain a quarter of the items I was looking for but what I was surprised to see were W-2s from 2009 and 2010 for income of 12K that she had working for her now husband. Now, originally in the PSS hearing my ex was found to have quit her job to get higher child support so the judge imputed income to her of 2333. That was four years ago and my ex is still not working and is claiming zero income currently. But, if this extra 1K is added to the 2333 that the court imputed to my ex the actual amount of child support that I should have been paying is 715.00! This is a difference of 198.33 and a 22% difference in what I am paying vs what I should have been paying. In addition, since she is claiming 12K in income for each of the past two years (2009 and 2010) this would mean that I have been over paying in the amount of 198.33 X 24 months = 4759.22.

Before I get too excited I wanted to run it by you. : ) Am I wrong to think that she should have been reporting this income to me as it was a substantial change? Also, am I wrong to think that this extra 1K a month should be added to the imputed income of 2333? To me it makes sense that it should be added as otherwise she is receiving additional income at my expense. If this is a substantial change that she has not informed me about can I go after her for back payment of the 4759.22 that was paid to her in 2009 and 2010? Will the court punish her for hiding this income and not informing me of it?

This income is not even the income that was what I was suspecting her of having which was having her rent, utilities, and cell phone being paid for by her now husband since she moved to Winston-Salem in August 2009. Maybe this explains why her bank statements (she only supplied the statements from June 2011 to October 2011) show 14K as the closing balance. Sigh.

Your feedback, as always is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

2

You cannot go back and get reimbursed for support that was paid. As for imputing income: You cannot impute income to her, the court can, in a modification if it finds she is still voluntarily “underemployed.”

3

Previously you had told me that when it came to getting back the portion of dependent care that i was paying as part of my monthly child support even though my ex has not had my son in dependent care since August of 2009 was OK. Now, you are saying that it is not possible to go back and get compensated from someone that was not using these funds for what they should have been. Moreover, it is not possible to get compensated for loss of funds even when an ex failed to mention income of 12K? Is it just that it depends on the sex of the person asking the question?

I did not impute the income myself - the court did four years ago. I only added the additional funds that were never mentioned to me until I requested her financial information. I don’t know about you but 198 dollars extra in my pocket every month is a lot of money. But then again, maybe the system is more broken then I though.

4

Her income of 12k is less than the income that the court imputed to her last time. You cannot add her 12k to her imputed income. You cannot go back and get reimbursed. She is still not making more than the imputed income. It will be up to the judge if he will continue to impute income once the modification is heard if the judge feels she is still voluntarily under- or unemployed.