Imputing Income to an Unemployed Spouse

My question involves child support in the State of: NY

Hello. Here is my story. I have read many threads but I've not seen an answer to my question (so I apologize if this is a repeated question). I am the father of 4 children (currently aged 12, 14, 15, 17). In 2003 my ex-wife and I divorced. She was not employed prior to the divorce and has not been employed since the divorce. Our divorce stated that I would pay $920/month for maintenance for 4 years (which I did) and my child support would be $472/week (based on my income, at the time, of $85k/year). I have never missed a payment (in fact, I started when we were separated and not yet divorced) and we do not use Child Support Collections. Rather, I have direct deposit and when I get paid my employer puts the child support into an account designated by my ex and the rest goes into my account. Also, we do not have an order from the child support court ... the child support was a part of the divorce agreement. Ok, so that is the background.

I am now paying $513/week in child support. I did not go to court and revise our divorce degree from $472/week to $513/week. However my ex and I have not had an issue with me paying more than was agreed. Also, my children are covered by NYS health insurance (my current wife is a NYS employee) and have very low co-pays. My current wife sells 6 vacation days per year to keep the costs down so we can afford good insurance for my family. My ex is a healthy, 49 year old woman who is capable of working and has chosen not to. Now she is threatening to take me to child support court.

Before I go any further let me be clear in that I am NOT looking to avoid support or shirk my obligation. The question I'm about to ask is to gain insight on the "rules," if you will. My income has went up and down over the years. When it went down I still paid my obligation to my children. And when it has went up I've done more for my children outside of formal "child support." My income is now higher than it was in 2003 (due, in large part, to an annual bonus I received and which is not guaranteed going forward) and based on the "formula" my obligation will be $671/week. For many reasons (not relevant to this question) this would put me into a financial hardship and will reduce my ability to do things with my children.

My ex will show that she has zero income except for my child support. However, she has a mortgage ($1,000+), a car payment, 10 horses, 10 cats, 3 dogs, chickens, multiple carriages and multiple sleighs/bobsleds. She has purchased my daughter a $3,000 french horn, has paid $2k for my other daughter to have a set of bells, she travels (for weeks, at times), she takes the kids (and their friends) to restaurants (Red Lobster, Red Robin, etc) and pays for many other small things like NetFlix and XBOX live. I do know that her boyfriend (who works out of town) sends quite a bit of money home to her. Again, let me be clear. I'm not saying this to be bitter or anything. I'm simply laying out the facts.

Therefore, now to my question (I know ... finally). How will the courts view a situation like this? Will they consider my bonus (which is not guaranteed income)? Will they look at her with $0 income and me with my income and keep the child support amount based solely on my income? Or will they take into consideration all of the "other" expenses she has and consider imputing income on her? After all, my $513/week will not cover all of the expenses that she has. Will they consider that she is getting money from other sources?

Thanks (in advance) for any insight that any of you may have.

Bonuses are easy to factor into support. If they're predictable, then you can assign a number and (if necessary) correct if it changes; if they're not you can use estimates, averages, or other means to estimate and/or correct after you know the actual amount. Etc.

I'm not sure if you're trying to claim that your ex- has a job. Are you?

Mr. Knowitall, thanks for the input. Yea, that is what concerns me about the bonus. We had a good year and my company gave us a bonus. It is not guaranteed and is not likely next year because my company is a German company and the European Debt Crisis is giving us fits.

With regards to my ex, she does not have a job. I'm not trying to claim that she does. However on the questionnaire that comes from the Support court it asks for "other income." When the court sees that her income is $0.00 and she lists $0.00 in other income then won't that look strange when she lists her assets? Again, I will never shirk my obligation but it doesn't seem fair at times that the child support is based solely on my income when she's receiving income that can't be counted as "skin in the game." And my question comes in because I know there is a difference between what I consider to be fair and what is legal.

I hope this makes sense.

The bills are paid somehow. What are we talking about - a new spouse's income?

No, it is her boyfriend. He works out of town and sends his money home. My ex is not married.