In Paulus v. Paulus, the New Jersey Appellate Division remanded for a plenary hearing to determine whether defendant was voluntarily underemployed and, if so, whether a higher level of income should be imputed when calculating his child support obligation. The plaintiff appealed from a post-judgment Family Part order reducing defendant’s obligation to pay child support, which was computed using a level of income based upon limited employment while he attended a full-time nursing program, rather than the level of earnings received while employed in the information technology field. The appellate panel concluded that the trial court erred in failing to make factual findings.
Paulus heralds a closer look by trial courts at the particular facts of a motion for child support reduction, in a time of widespread unemployment, particularly in certain industries. We hope that with this intensified scrutiny, courts will carefully balance the needs of children for sufficient support with the difficult realities of the current job market, in which many workers are forced to shift to lower paying positions due to cutbacks in their industry.
C. Megan Oltman, Esq.
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