Stay-At-Home Parents and Child Support

 Child visitation and support, one of the most complex and stressful aspects of a divorce, can become even more complicated when one parent has left the workforce to care for their children. In trying to determine support, many stay-at-home parents report being threatened by their spouse to find employment or have income assigned to them. The assignment of income, also known as imputed income, usually is the result of a “vocational evaluation” to determine one’s earning capacity.  Of course, this is done in an attempt to minimize the payment of child support and spousal support to the stay-at-home parent.
Starting in 2019, Family Courts may no longer simply impute income to a parent who is a traditional homemaker. Modifications to California Family Code Section 4058 requires Family Courts to consider the overall welfare and developmental needs of the children, and the time a parent spends with their children when determining a parent’s earning capacity. This new legal language assists stay-at-home parents in arguing that working full-time or perhaps even part-time may not be in the best interests of the children. Additionally, few if any vocational evaluators have the necessary education, training, and experience to give an expert opinion on a child’s best interests.  As such, obtaining the vocational examination is only the first step in the process of attempting to impute income to a stay-at-home parent.
Arguably, this will make it more difficult to impute income, or at the very least a full salary, to stay-at-home parents. But it may also lead to better-negotiated divorce settlements because there is no requirement, absent some narrow exceptions, that a parent who was working more than 40 hours must continue to do so. In other words, rather than immediately go to war over money, both parents can sit down with experienced attorneys and perhaps even a financial advisor to determine the best solutions to provide both for their children’s expenses and their children’s overall welfare and developmental needs.
To speak with an experienced attorney about child support and other family law issues contact The Reape-Rickett Law Firm at 888-846-6166 or visit www.DivorceDigest.com.