When it comes to calculating child support the worksheet is pretty straight forward. The problem is figuring out what numbers to use. For instance, when it comes to income it seems pretty easy to calculate a child support order if you have the same weekly paycheck with no overtime and the exact same number of hours. But, what if you income fluctuates and sometimes you get some overtime and sometimes you don’t. What if you work multiple jobs? How about being self-employed?
The Indiana Child Support Guidelines defines weekly gross income as:
For purposes of these Guidelines, “weekly gross income” is defined as actual weekly gross income of the parent if employed to full capacity, potential income if unemployed or underemployed, and imputed income based upon “in‑kind” benefits. Weekly gross income of each parent includes income from any source, except as excluded below, and includes, but is not limited to, income from salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, overtime, partnership distributions, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits, workmen’s compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, gifts, inheritance, prizes, and alimony or maintenance received from other marriages. Social Security disability benefits paid for the benefit of the child must be included in the disabled parent’s gross income. The disabled parent is entitled to a credit for the amount of Social Security disability benefits paid for the benefit of the child.
As you can see the list is pretty extensive. Again what do you do in a situation where there is overtime? The commentary would suggest that the Court look at each situation and the facts of that situation. For example, is the overtime regular or inconsistent? It may be easier to make an argument for including more regular overtime, but even with regular overtime the Court has to be mindful of possible changes in economic situations that might make it impossible to meet that order based on overtime.
Inconsistent income such as bonuses and commissions can be better dealt with by recognizing it as such and for the Court to consider ordering that a percentage of the bonus be used instead of trying to find a way to include the bonus into the calculations. Part of this takes into account the fluctuating nature of bonuses and commissions while at the same time helping to ensure that proper support is paid.
The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, child custody and criminal matters such as DUI/OWI, drug offenses, traffic offenses, etc. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.
