## Facts

- The parties divorced in 1989 and had two minor children; the mother was ordered to pay child support to the father.
- After dissolution, both parties left active military service; the father worked as an electrician earning about $31,000 annually by 1997.
- The mother remarried, had two additional children, left full-time employment, and worked part-time, earning about $323 per month by early 1998 while functioning as a full-time homemaker.
- In 1997, the mother petitioned to modify and reduce her child-support obligation based on her reduced income.
- The trial court reduced the mother’s monthly support obligation effective shortly after the petition date and granted her a credit for overpayments.
- The father appealed, arguing the mother was voluntarily underemployed and income should have been imputed at a level consistent with her earning capacity.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by failing to impute income to a parent who voluntarily left full-time employment to be a full-time homemaker for children of a subsequent relationship.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in selecting the effective date for the modified child-support obligation and awarding a credit for overpayments.
3. Whether the trial court erred in its attorney-fee rulings, including denial of fees on appeal.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the modified child-support order and remanded for recalculation.
- The court held the trial court abused its discretion by not imputing income because the mother was voluntarily underemployed.
- The court did not hold that the chosen effective date was, by itself, an abuse of discretion, but left related recalculation effects to the trial court on remand.
- The court affirmed the trial court’s decision for each party to bear their own attorney’s fees and declined to award attorney’s fees on appeal.

## Legal Principles

- A parent may not reduce or avoid a child-support obligation through voluntary unemployment or underemployment.
- When a parent is voluntarily underemployed, child support must be calculated using imputed income reflecting earning capacity rather than reduced actual earnings.
- Full-time homemaking, without wage compensation, may constitute voluntary underemployment when it results from an elective decision that diminishes the parent’s ability to meet existing support obligations.
- In modification proceedings, trial courts have discretion regarding effective dates and fee awards, subject to review for abuse of discretion.

## Conclusion

The appellate court required imputation of income where the obligor parent voluntarily reduced earnings by choosing full-time homemaking, reversed the resulting support reduction, and remanded for recalculation consistent with the parent’s earning capacity.


In re Marriage of Pollard, 99 Wash. App. 48, 991 P.2d 1201 (Wash. Ct. App. 2000)