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Voluntary Impoverishment
Child support obligations stay with a parent, even if they decide to live a life of poverty in order to avoid child support payments. Like a spouse who “voluntarily impoverishes” him or herself in order to avoid alimony payments, a parent who does the same will have their support obligations calculated based on potential income unless the parent is unable to work because of a physical or mental disability or is caring for a child under 2 years old of whom the parents have joint responsibility. In general, there are certain non-exhaustive factors that are considered in determining whether a parent has voluntarily impoverished him or herself. The following is a list of these factors:
(1) The parent’s current physical condition
(2) The parent’s level of education
(3) The proximity in time between the divorce and the change in employment or financial circumstance
(4) The parties’ relationship prior to the divorce proceedings
(5) The amount of effort by the parent to find new employment
(6) Whether the parent has tried to obtain retraining
(7) Whether the parent has withheld support before
(8) The parent’s prior work history
(9) The status of the job market where the parent resides
(10) Any other miscellaneous considerations
A parent can also be found to have voluntarily impoverished him or herself even if he or she had never been employed and continues to remain unemployed after having children.
Once a parent is determined to be voluntarily impoverished, the court will attribute a “potential income” to that parent in order to determine the appropriate support amount to order. The court will generally look at these non-exhaustive list of factors:
(1) Age of the parent
(2) The mental and physical condition of the parent
(3) His or her assets
(4) His or her educational background, special training, and skills
(5) His or her prior earnings
(6) His or her efforts to find or retain employment
(7) The condition of the job market where the parent lives
(8) The parent’s actual income from any source
(9) Other factors relating to the parent’s ability to support his or her child
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