A recent Arizona Court of Appeals decision addressed attributing overtime income and use of a medical insurance cost incurred for multiple people in calculating child support. The court ruled that under the Arizona Child Support Guidelines, the family court may not attribute income over a normal full-time work schedule without a showing that the parent historically earned overtime income and anticipates earning the overtime income in the future.
Also, the court must prorate the amount a parent spends on medical insurance when the amount is for the children in the child support calculation and others. For example, a father pays for medical insurance through his employer for himself, Child A, and Child B. Child A and Child B have different mothers. In calculating child support for Child A, the court would use one-half of the difference between the employee cost and the employee plus family cost of medical insurance.
I often have child support cases in which one parent works part time at a second job or earns some overtime. The question is always what amount of income will the court use for child support purposes. The answer is that the court will usually use only the regular earnings from the main, full-time job. Also, the scenario where the parent who provides insurance for individuals including the children in the child support calculation as well as others, such as other children. The Court of Appeals has now resolved the question of whether we use the entire cost of insurance or we prorate it.
