Goodrich v. Goodrich (Tennessee 2018)

For child support purposes, a court can impute income to a parent that is higher than the parent’s actual income. The father appealed the district court order finding him underemployed and imputing income to him. He argued that he had involuntarily left his previous job and could not find an equivalent job. The Court of Appeals disagreed. The determination of underemployment is a matter of fact. The court should review the circumstances under which the parent left the job and the parent’s efforts to find a new job. The court found the evidence supported the district court findings that the father’s attempts to find a job were not reasonable and that his new job at a family business was suspect.