Dad’s Support Based on Prior Income After Taking Lower Paying Job

Tennessee child support case summary on income determination.

John Michael Thayer v. Jennifer Lynn Thayer

The mother and father in this Tennessee case had one child and were divorced in 2010.  The daughter was diagnosed with autism and attended the Brown Center for Autism.  The original parenting plan named the mother as primary residential parent, with the father being awarded ninety days of visitation per year.  In lieu of child support, the parties agreed that the father would pay the daughter’s tuition, and the parents agreed that this constituted an upward departure.

In 2013, the mother filed a petition in the Davidson County Circuit Court to modify the child support.  She alleged that the daughter was now attending a different school, and that the father was behind on the tuition payments.

Until 2013, the father worked as a mortgage broker earning $12,000 per month.  In September of that year, he took a similar job at a startup company, with an income of $4172 per month.

The father testified that he took the lower income job to better position himself for the future.  He testified that the rules governing compensation for mortgage brokers had changed, and he would need to increase his volume of loans to earn the same income.  He testified that the new job would produce more volume.

In making its ruling, the lower court found the father voluntarily underemployed, and also granted an upward departure due to extraordinary educational expenses.  The father appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which first addressed the issue of voluntary underemployment.

The appeals court noted that to find voluntary underemployment, the job change does not need to be motivated by a desire to avoid child support.  But not every voluntary job change warrants a finding of voluntary underemployment.  If the decision is reasonable and made in good faith, then the decision will be supported.

In this case, the appeals court noted that the lower court had discretion to find whether the change was reasonable, even though it apparently agreed with the father that the move was made in good faith.  In this case, the appeals court found that the evidence did not preponderate against the lower court’s finding.  It pointed out that the father had a job paying $12,000 a month, but moved to another job doing the same work but earning only $4172 per month.  The appeals court held that it did not abuse its discretion in making the ruling it did.

The Court of Appeals also affirmed the lower court’s decision that an upward departure was warranted in the case.  It therefore affirmed the lower court’s ruling, and remanded the case for the wife to be awarded her attorney’s fees for the appeal.

No. M2015-00194-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 26, 2016).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Support Laws in Tennessee.

See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring actual examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.