Calculating child support payments for unemployed parents

When you’re heading into any child support dispute, you might be thinking that your or the other parent’s paychecks dictate how much one of you will pay. That’s often true, but not always. Courts have other ways of calculating child support if one parent doesn’t have a job. These ways of calculating support may depend on whether a parent is unemployed voluntarily or involuntarily. 

This article goes over what you might see in a child support case where at least one parent isn’t working. Of course, how a court may deal with a parent’s work status in a child support case depends on the laws in that parent’s state.

Factors for Calculating Child Support Payments

In many typical cases, child support calculations are based on the amount of parenting time each parent gets and the parents’ combined income. Even if a parent is not ordered to pay child support, the court must assess their income and use it to calculate the other parent’s support obligation. The court may use a parent’s actual income to calculate child support, or they may impute income to the parent based on what the court believes the parent could earn (more on that later).

Typically, the noncustodial parent pays support to the custodial parent. However, if the child is living with someone other than a parent or is in the custody of the state, both parents may be ordered to pay child support.

Depending on the state, a family law judge may consider many sources of income in calculating child support, including:

How does child support work if the mother or father has no job?

If a parent doesn’t have a job or any financial resources like the ones we listed above, a court might do one of two things:

Let’s look at each of these above-listed scenarios separately.

Reduction of a support obligation after a job loss

The court may still require a parent to pay child support with no job. But a parent might be able to ask the court to modify their child support obligation if they lose their job and there has been a substantial and continuing change in their circumstances that would make a child support order unfair. 

Courts generally presume that there has been a substantial change if recalculating a support obligation would cause a certain percentage change in the final amount. For instance, New Mexico presumes a substantial change if recalculation results in a change of more than 20%, and Colorado recognizes a substantial change if recalculating the support amount causes at least a 10% change in the support obligation.   

Imputed income child support when a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed

A job loss doesn’t always justify lightening a parent’s child support responsibilities. If the court believes a parent doesn’t have a job or earns less pay voluntarily, the court may impute income to the underemployed parent. Imputed income child support means that a court might look at how much money a parent could be earning at a job (or a better job) and then require that parent to pay a support amount based on what they could be making. 

What counts as voluntary unemployment?

Like many other factors, whether a parent is voluntarily unemployed for a child support case depends on each state’s laws. A state might presume that every parent is able to work at least 40 hours per week and put the burden on the parent to prove that their lack of work is not voluntary. A state might decide that a parent’s unemployment is voluntary after finding a substantial likelihood that the parent could earn more income by making a reasonable effort to apply their skills, education or training. 

A court might not identify a parent as voluntarily unemployed if one or more of the following circumstances apply:

How do state courts calculate imputed income?

When calculating child support based on imputed income, a judge may consider the following qualities and circumstances of the unemployed parent: 

Reviewing the above-listed factors and imputing income might ensure that a noncustodial parent pays child support even if unemployed.

Evidence for calculating child support

Courts have many options for calculating support obligations and developing child support orders. And parents have many options for proving what their child support rights should be. 

Evidence of a parent’s income and earning capacity (or lack thereof) could include:

How an attorney may help

Sometimes, the job market and children’s financial needs are unpredictable. The law has mechanisms that allow parents to make changes to their child support obligations or continue to demand support payments after a job loss. While many parents may seek this legal relief on their own, others feel more comfortable tackling these tasks with the help of an attorney. 

A child support attorney might help by identifying when an unemployed parent may or may not be liable for child support. An attorney may also help with gathering evidence to prove what a parent’s imputed income should be and opening and maintaining a case to modify a parent’s obligations when their circumstances change.