No Reliable Evidence of Income When Setting Tennessee Child Support?
What if There Is No Reliable Evidence of Income When Setting Tennessee Child Support?
No Reliable Evidence of Income in Tennessee Child Support
A parent having no reliable evidence of income happens more often than one thinks. Examples include working for relatives who don’t issue reliable employment records and jobs which pay cash such as skilled labor subcontractors or lawn care. If a parent without reliable records of income earns less than the imputed income levels, that parent will be very adamant that the earnings are what the records say. Experience shows only those who actually earn more than the imputed amount will happily pay child support based upon the imputed amounts. The following imputed income provision applies when there is no reliable evidence of income.
(iv) Imputing Income When There is No Reliable Evidence of Income.
(I) When Establishing an Initial Order.
- If a parent fails to produce reliable evidence of income (such as tax returns for prior years, check stubs, or other information for determining current ability to support or ability to support in prior years for calculating retroactive support); and
- The tribunal has no reliable evidence of the parent’s income or income potential;
- Then, in such cases, gross income for the current and prior years shall be determined by imputing annual gross income of thirty-seven thousand five hundred eight-nine dollars ($37,589) for male parents and twenty-nine thousand three hundred dollars ($29,300) for female parents. These figures represent the full time, year round workers’ median gross income, for the Tennessee population only, from the American Community Survey of 2006 from the U.S. Census Bureau.
(II) When Modifying an Existing Order
- If a parent fails to produce reliable evidence of income (such as tax returns for prior years, check stubs, or other information for determining current ability to support); and
- The tribunal has no reliable evidence of that parent’s income or income potential;
- After increasing the gross income of the parent failing or refusing to produce evidence of income by an increment not to exceed ten percent (10%) per year for each year since the support order was entered or last modified, the tribunal shall calculate the basic child support obligation using the increased income amount as that parent’s gross income.
- If the order to be modified is not an income shares order, and the parent who fails or refuses to provide reliable evidence of income was not required to produce evidence of income under the prior order, the tribunal shall determine that parent’s income under the directions of subpart (iv)(I) above.
(III) In either circumstance in subpart (iv)(I) or (II) above, upon motion to the tribunal served upon all interested parties pursuant to the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, the parent may provide the reliable evidence necessary to determine the appropriate amount of support based upon this reliable evidence. Under this circumstance, the parent is not required to demonstrate the existence of a significant variance otherwise required for modification of an order under 1240-2-4-.05. In ruling on a proper motion, the tribunal may modify the amount of current support prospectively.
(IV) Arrearages accrued or retroactive amounts due under an order based upon imputed income shall not be forgiven or modified under this section.
Tennessee Child Support Guidelines, August 2008.
Memphis divorce attorney, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA, practices family law exclusively with the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC in Memphis, Tennessee serving clients in Germantown, Collierville and the west Tennessee area. To learn more about Tennessee child support laws, read and view:
