Legal Question in Family Law in Rhode Island

Court Ruling Questions

I lost my job that paid $x/year. I looked for a year and could not find a comparable job so took an entry level position that pays a fraction of my previous salary. I've been told that the judge/court can calculate a new child support payment based on an ''earning potential'' which could be up to my previous salary. This means I could potentially be ordered to pay more money per month than I can afford (one scenario I was presented with left me with $40/month...another has me paying more money per month than I make in a month).

Question 1:

Can a court make and enforce a decision or ruling, knowing that the ruling cannot be fullfiled? And if they do, what rights do I have to argue against it?

Question 2: What rights do I have to protect me and allow me to support myself.

Question 3: If the court's reply is to get a second job, are they responsible for ordering my current employer to schedule my hours to accommodate a second job? (My hours change week to week..1st, 2nd shift, mid-shifts, weekends...so I couldn't commit to any specific hours at a new job).

Earning potential makes no sense to me as you can't pay bills with your earning potential. Paying potential makes awhole lot more sense.


Asked on 8/28/08, 3:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Christopher Pearsall Law Office of Christopher A. Pearsall, Esquire

Re: Court Ruling Questions

Regarding your questions.

Question 1: A court can enforce a ruling believing that the ruling can be fulfilled, even if it cannot be fulfilled from your perspective.

Question 2: You have a right and entitlement to survive at poverty level but generally speaking your right and entitlement to survive is secondary to your child's right to be supported.

Question 3. No. The family court has no power to control what work hours your employer sets to accommodate any second job the court suggests. Unfortunately that burden falls in your lap.

Earning potential assignments only make sense when the payer parent is shown to be intentionally not working in the fashion he or she was doing before in order to avoid a child support obligation. Regrettably, earning capacities are in the discretion of the judge based upon the evidence. However, practically speaking the state of the economy of the job market for the person's specific skills or training do not seem to be considered by the judges I have been before regarding this issue.

I agree with your position provided the paying parent can show actual and meaningful attempts to re-achieve the prior earning capacity.

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Answered on 8/28/08, 4:28 pm


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