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Imputed Income?

justmakingthebest's picture

We got the doctors notes from SS's 4 specialists- Good news is the doctors are listening to us!! The rheumatologist stated that he is not comfortable making a diagnosis at this time. The cardiologist said that his symptoms has cleared and he has "out grown" POTS. The gastroenterologist said he is progressing normally and doesn't need to see him for a year. Now we just have to get through to the geneticist for the EDS and SS14 will be a healthy normal kid!! 

Also a fun thing... BM who lives off of welfare and disability claimed on all the forms that she is a nurse. While she WAS a nurse when DH and her first got married, she hasn't worked in 10 years. Apparently when BM and DH were first married and she was going through custody and CS for her other kid, she did something similar and her ex was able to get that documentation to the court and they literally put in the state average for LPN (that is what she is) and used that for CS even though she wasn't working at that time either. So DH had to pay her CS to her ex because she was stupid. 

My questions is, since she is filling out forms stating that she is a nurse, what are the chances that we can pull that off and get imputed income calculated for her??? Have any of you successfully pulled something like that off? As of right now she hasn’t shown any proof of income in the last 6 years and her attorney has been calculating her at minimum wage since she wasn’t working.  

Comments

SteppedOut's picture

If she has a license (or the ability to be licensed), then it should be imputed at that level - why not? I would definately try!

justmakingthebest's picture

OMG! I didn't even think about a license search! Took about 3 minutes and she is still licenses until 2020!! BOOM!

SteppedOut's picture

There you go! If her license is in good standing, then she has been actively keeping her training up - she HAS to get so much training every year/every other year. Are you sure she isn't working?

Even if she isn't working now, she DEFINATELY has the ability to earn far above minimum.

Jcksjj's picture

My experience with imputed income was ODS dad worked sporadically here and there at jobs that generally paid decent so he was obviously capable of making a decent amount even though he never kept the jobs long. He didnt have to report that income, they have access to an employer database that they just type in his social security number and it shows where he has worked. They still imputed his income at the minimum anyway (which is like 1.5 times minimum wage in my state). 

stepadvice's picture

I used to work in the Family Law field many years ago and this same issue came up a lot. Years ago you could impute someone's income if they are able to work have the education and work history. I remember one person who clearly quit his job so he could avoid his CS obligation and his income was imputed. (He quit right before trial so it was clearly a tactic)

However, another client was a SAHM mom for many years and even though she had a prior work history the opposing counsel wanted to impute her income to her highest earning year. She found a job only making 40K a year. I believe his was over 120K a year. She had to hire Vocational experts to testify regarding the current job market, her credentials and current jobs available in the area and show that she is making market value based on her background. To say the least he wasn't happy as he wanted her income to be imputed to at least 80K a year.

With all that said it was very expensive on both parties to fight over an additional 40K a year. With your situation I would look at if she is receiving disability there may be an issue that she cannot work due to her condition. She may fight you on it. If you know her condition and know that she is still capable of working maybe imputing her income to an entry level nurses salary in her area would be the best scenario since she has been out of work for a while she will not automatically make top dollar.