If a court finds that a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, it can impute income, meaning it calculates support based on what the parent could reasonably earn rather than what they currently report. This prevents a parent from sidestepping support by taking a lower-paying position or leaving work without good cause.
Imputation is fact-specific and often contested, since it turns on a parent’s earning capacity and history. A child support attorney in the Palm Bay area can argue for or against imputed income depending on which side of the issue a client is on.
