What counts as income in support proceedings?

Because support is calculated based on the parties’ respective incomes, it is necessary to determine the parties’ incomes in support proceedings. Income typically includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, and other earnings from employment. However, it is not uncommon for parties to have other types of income, such as Social Security Disability; rental income; dividends; pensions or other retirement income; income from a trust; alimony; lottery earnings; insurance settlements; other monetary awards (e.g. from a court case); income tax refunds; and other types of income not specifically listed above.

While all of the sources of income above may be counted as income for support purposes, there are some circumstances when a particular source of income may not be counted as income. For example, if a party only occasionally works overtime hours and those hours are not guaranteed, that party’s overtime hours may be omitted from the support calculation. Alimony may be included if circumstances warrant it, but it is not required to be included in all cases. There are many other potential arguments to exclude income, depending on the source of the resource and the circumstances surrounding why the recipient is owed that income, but it is up to the party or their attorney to disclose all income and to make any arguments regarding why it should or should not be included in their income calculation.

If you are interested in discussing your unique support case in depth with one of our attorneys, call Tanner Law Offices at (717) 731-8114 to schedule a consultation with one of our attorneys.