If you need to calculate or recalculate child support based on an initial claim for divorce or a Motion to Modify child support, then you may want to approach the issue carefully if you are the one paying the child support and works overtime.
The Rhode Island Family Court judge may consider overtime to determine the amount of child support you must pay. This is complicated not because the calculations get more cumbersome and not because case law or statutes provide a specific way to determine how much overtime, if any, should be factored into your gross income to calculate your Rhode Island child support obligation. . Rather, this is complicated because this particular issue is left to the discretion of the Rhode Island family court judge presiding over your case.
This would not be so complicated if it weren’t for the fact that each judge may exercise their discretion differently and have different ideas about whether overtime pay should be factored into your gross income when calculating child support. and because.
Overtime pay continues to be a problem that has led to very frustrating results for some parents who appear before the Rhode Island Family Court system for that very reason.
As you can imagine, it is very difficult to meet with a client who asks the question, “Will the extra 20 hours I work each week count toward my gross income when it comes time to calculate my child support?” and give them an answer as definitive as. . . . “maybe”. . . however, it “depends”.
Not surprisingly, potential clients and those who consult attorneys on this topic are often upset to discover that there is no fixed answer that applies universally to every case. Most people expect consistency from family court judges on this unique issue and are surprised to find that this actually depends on the judge’s ideas on the issue and, at times, on their attorney’s ability to emphasize a point strong enough for the Rhode Island family court judge to see. as unfair to include overtime pay in the gross income of the parent paying child support.
Ultimately, when it comes to the question of overtime and whether it should be considered as part of the parents’ gross income, it may become a question of which judge is assigned to your case and their particular views on the matter. .
Does this lead to consistent results on the issue of including overtime in gross earnings for child support purposes? No, it is not. At best, there can be consistency regarding a particular judge’s decisions on the matter. However, there is really no consistency in the Rhode Island family court judiciary on this issue.
So it should come as no surprise that a Rhode Island attorney who focuses his practice on the areas of divorce and family law matters can be your best advocate here and provide you with the best indicators of success regarding this issue once you figure it out. who will be the judge in your case.
As a general rule of thumb, you should anticipate that overtime pay will be considered and counted in your gross income for the purposes of determining child support under the Rhode Island Child Support Guidelines if you work overtime with any degree of regularity and consistency.
It’s like the old saying. Plan for the worst but hope for the best.
Having the right attorney on your side is worth it!