Child Support Based on Imputed Income from Lavish Lifestyle
Tennessee child support case summary on imputed income.
The child in this Hamilton County, Tennessee, case was born in Colorado in 2012 to unmarried parents. The father testified that he was the primary caregiver for about four months while they lived in Colorado. In 2013, the parties moved in with the maternal grandmother in Tennessee. The father moved to Costa Rica after a few months, and the mother and child joined him in Costa Rica in June 2013.
They returned to Tennessee after a few months, at which time the parents decided to end their relationship. The mother testified that the father became aggressive after the breakup before returning to Colorado. The father filed a petition for parental rights in Colorado, and the mother filed a petition for custody in Tennessee a few months later. The Colorado court later granted a motion to dismiss, holding that Tennessee was the appropriate jurisdiction for the dispute.
In 2014, the Tennessee court sustained the mother’s petition for custody and named her the primary residential parent.
On the issue of child support, the court set the father’s income at $5,000 per month, and set support at $1,017 per month. In addition, it found an arrearage of over $23,000 and ordered the father to repay this at a rate of $200 per month.
The father appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, raising a number of jurisdictional issues and issues regarding travel expenses. In addition, he argued that the lower court had improperly calculated his income.
After examining the jurisdictional facts, the appeals court first affirmed the finding of jurisdiction. It then moved to the question of child support.
In one affidavit, the father had stated that his income was only $3,200 per month. However, the appeals court noted that the father’s bank statements went from averaging $6,500 per month to exactly $3,200 in the same month when the first hearing was held. The trial court also heard evidence of the father’s spending, and noted that the father owned assets inconsistent with his claimed limited income such as spending at restaurants, dive shops, bait shops, and trips to Florida. Also, Father had horses and other livestock and exorbitant travel expenses, including last minute flights and SUV rentals, inconsistent with a limited income.
After reviewing the evidence, the appeals court concluded that the evidence supported the trial court’s finding of $5,000 per month.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the lower court, and assessed the costs of the appeal against the father.
No. E2015-02502-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jul. 26, 2017).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Child Support Modification in Tennessee | How to Modify Child Support.
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.
