Child support is more complicated than many people think. Check out my article on Medium explaining how child support can be complicated by self-employment income, business income, stipends, underemployment, and many other things.

Basically, attorneys come in to play in arguing what numbers should be put in the spots. Imputed income, small business valuations, rental income, underemployment, stipends, company reimbursement, day care expenses — all of this things can be huge in determining the amount of support owed under the guidelines. A new opinion out from the Court of Appeals points out just some of the factors that are involved in determining the income amounts for a child support worksheet. IN RE: GRACE N. deals with a huge number of these, from whether the attorney spouse was intentionally underemployed, if a nanny is a reasonable work related child care expense just like a normal day care provider, and even how much rental income should be imputed to a parent who co-owned a property with third parties. You can read the full opinion here as a great example of just why it is so important to have an attorney represent you when child support is a contested issue.