Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
On a petition for Modification of Child Support, paragraph 5: if unemployed do you put gross income at $0, or the average for the year, or the severance pay?
2 Answers from Attorneys
There is no standard "line 5." A proper modification is tailor-written to the facts of your case and is NOT done on a form (it sounds like you found a form). Modifications without legal counsel rarely go well.
Where someone is unemployed, their employment prospects and projected future earnings matter a lot, as does their recent earnings. And if someone got a severance package and/or unemployment, that matters too.
Too many holes in your question. Are you receiving unemployment? What was your average income? You have to realize that just because you're unemployed does not mean that the judge may impute your previous salary to you, since that was what you were capable of making. You need an experienced family law attorney to develop a legal strategy that you can defend with your documentation.