How to prove other parent under the table income for child support hearing

[Anonymous]

Long story short ex husband has given me money for our 2 kids 3 times over a period of 8 months. The amount of money has been different the 3times. He has 2 jobs. One full time and one part time in which he is paid cash. He basically works 6 days a week in his part time job. I have a child support hearing coming up soon. He is a very good liar, so I'm afraid he will lie about this income. How will the judge prove the cash income? Will the judge just go off by what he says? Should I get some kind of proof? If so, what can count as proof? I have text in which hes telling our kids he is working and can't visit them.

[Anonymous]

It’s going to be pretty difficult to have his cash income counted towards child support. You will both submit tax forms, w-2s, I099s, etc. You could ask that bank statements be submitted, but if he isn’t putting the cash in the bank, there is no way to prove it exists.

[Anonymous]

I would get evidence and report him to the IRS.

A text doesn't prove anything. He could have lied in the text.

[Anonymous]

If you can prove that his expenses are greater than his earnings, and that he's not in debt to pay for them, it could work.

Be prepared to accept child support based on his W2 income though. As long as it's garnished you'll start receiving it.

[Anonymous]

In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

None of those things would have affected child support. His mother can give him money, but to the taxable allowed amount a year, and it’s not considered income but a gift. Splitting expenses is also not a form of income. It’s how you allocate your money after you earn income. A person is allowed to allocate their resources as they see fit. Renting the apartment is the closest that would come to qualifying as income, but I have a rental unit and only the profit (not the rental amount) would be counted as income. For a shared home, once you deduct expenses, the share of split repairs, and depreciation, there would be very little taxable income on paper. It’s one of the great things about rental income in the tax code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would get evidence and report him to the IRS.

A text doesn't prove anything. He could have lied in the text.

I would be careful of this. If he gets into tax trouble, he could lose his legitimate job. Then you would get no child support at all. It’s in your interest that he remain employed in the real economy. Otherwise, you could be left with nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

None of those things would have affected child support. His mother can give him money, but to the taxable allowed amount a year, and it’s not considered income but a gift. Splitting expenses is also not a form of income. It’s how you allocate your money after you earn income. A person is allowed to allocate their resources as they see fit. Renting the apartment is the closest that would come to qualifying as income, but I have a rental unit and only the profit (not the rental amount) would be counted as income. For a shared home, once you deduct expenses, the share of split repairs, and depreciation, there would be very little taxable income on paper. It’s one of the great things about rental income in the tax code.

I’ve known him 20 years. The amount he got monthly in “gifts” from his mother far exceeded the allowed amount. Also, he filled out the worksheet claiming monthly expenses for mortgage and utilities that he was really splitting.

I wish I had followed a PP’s advice to show that his stated expenses exceeded his paper income, but he wasn’t in debt. However, I’m content to let a higher power than the courts deal with him now.

[Anonymous]

What’s your goal here, OP? I would hope that it is to get the payments that are back-owed and to ensure all future payments are done in full and on time.

If that is your focus, than it doesn’t matter that he is getting money under the table. Your number one goal is to get what has already been ordered. He isn’t doing that.

If he wants to reduce his support payments, then it is up to him to prove that his income has changed. Has it changed since the first income determination was made?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

None of those things would have affected child support. His mother can give him money, but to the taxable allowed amount a year, and it’s not considered income but a gift. Splitting expenses is also not a form of income. It’s how you allocate your money after you earn income. A person is allowed to allocate their resources as they see fit. Renting the apartment is the closest that would come to qualifying as income, but I have a rental unit and only the profit (not the rental amount) would be counted as income. For a shared home, once you deduct expenses, the share of split repairs, and depreciation, there would be very little taxable income on paper. It’s one of the great things about rental income in the tax code.

I don't know about this. A friend of mine's father lives with her half the year and helps her pay the mortgage on her condo (California), and pays for his living expenses while there, including food and prorated utilities. Her child support was reduced because most of that money was counted as income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

None of those things would have affected child support. His mother can give him money, but to the taxable allowed amount a year, and it’s not considered income but a gift. Splitting expenses is also not a form of income. It’s how you allocate your money after you earn income. A person is allowed to allocate their resources as they see fit. Renting the apartment is the closest that would come to qualifying as income, but I have a rental unit and only the profit (not the rental amount) would be counted as income. For a shared home, once you deduct expenses, the share of split repairs, and depreciation, there would be very little taxable income on paper. It’s one of the great things about rental income in the tax code.

Actually PP, courts don't use the IRS code to determine income beyond using W2. Regular, monetary gifts, can be used in the calculation of income for the purposes of child support. Which means that PP would have received a percentage of that money as child support.

And rental income would also be added to income - courts don't care about depreciation and stuff like that - that only limits your tax burden, not your child support burden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

None of those things would have affected child support. His mother can give him money, but to the taxable allowed amount a year, and it’s not considered income but a gift. Splitting expenses is also not a form of income. It’s how you allocate your money after you earn income. A person is allowed to allocate their resources as they see fit. Renting the apartment is the closest that would come to qualifying as income, but I have a rental unit and only the profit (not the rental amount) would be counted as income. For a shared home, once you deduct expenses, the share of split repairs, and depreciation, there would be very little taxable income on paper. It’s one of the great things about rental income in the tax code.

Actually PP, courts don't use the IRS code to determine income beyond using W2. Regular, monetary gifts, can be used in the calculation of income for the purposes of child support. Which means that PP would have received a percentage of that money as child support.

And rental income would also be added to income - courts don't care about depreciation and stuff like that - that only limits your tax burden, not your child support burden.

NP here and obv this varies by state but rental income is subject to deductions for reasonable business expenses (repairs, HOA dues, etc.). It's not calculated purely off gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In over 10 years, I have never been able to prove my ex’s hidden income from his mother. She switched from checks to cash. I came close to proving he split expenses with a secret housemate, but the person moved out. I did prove he was renting out his basement using a Craigslist ad, but I couldn’t prove he actually received that amount.

At this point, I no longer care. I see it as a moral issue. God will catch up with him.

None of those things would have affected child support. His mother can give him money, but to the taxable allowed amount a year, and it’s not considered income but a gift. Splitting expenses is also not a form of income. It’s how you allocate your money after you earn income. A person is allowed to allocate their resources as they see fit. Renting the apartment is the closest that would come to qualifying as income, but I have a rental unit and only the profit (not the rental amount) would be counted as income. For a shared home, once you deduct expenses, the share of split repairs, and depreciation, there would be very little taxable income on paper. It’s one of the great things about rental income in the tax code.

I don't know about this. A friend of mine's father lives with her half the year and helps her pay the mortgage on her condo (California), and pays for his living expenses while there, including food and prorated utilities. Her child support was reduced because most of that money was counted as income.

It depends on the judge. My husband's ex is also in CA. Her boyfriend pays all her bills and they didn't even look at expenses. She filed to get my income calculated into child support. Instead she lost alimony (been over years ago but he was decent and kept paying) and two kids off child support who were over 18. They did reduce the child support with my income as he had to pay more in taxes as a higher tax bracket. But, they refused to look at boyfriend's income or what he paid.

OP should not be expecting gifts from his family to be counted as income for child support. That is a gift, not income.