Income for child support and alimony in Teton County.
Every support number in a Wyoming divorce starts with one question: what does each parent actually earn? The statute answers broadly, "any form of payment or return in money or in kind, regardless of source," and leaves the court to apply those words to a valley where income comes in seasons, in tips, on 1099s, in employee housing and in trust distributions. This page explains how income is counted, what is deducted, and what happens when a parent stops earning on purpose.
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Three things the statute settles.
"Income" means "any form of payment or return in money or in kind to an individual, regardless of source," including wages, salary, commission, independent-contractor pay, unemployment, disability and retirement benefits, "and any other payments made by any payor" (W.S. § 20-2-303(a)(ii)). Overtime is excluded unless two years of history show it will continue. Means-tested benefits are excluded.
The tables run on net income: income less personal income taxes, social security, the cost of the children's health coverage, support actually paid under earlier orders, other court-ordered support, and mandatory pension deductions (W.S. § 20-2-303(a)(iii)). Voluntary 401(k) contributions, the truck payment and rent are not deductions.
No support order is entered without each parent's financial affidavit on the Supreme Court's form, "supported with documentation of both current and past earnings": pay stubs or, if self-employed, receipts and expenses, plus the most recent tax return (W.S. § 20-2-308). The Rule 26 disclosures cover the rest of the balance sheet.
Jackson income, line by line.
Seasons, tips, bonuses, and the 1099
The statute was written for a parent with a salary, and most of my clients do not have one. A lift operator, a river guide and a framer each have a year with a shape: a winter, a summer, and a shoulder season with nothing in it. The honest monthly figure is the year divided by twelve, proved with every stub from both seasons; the tax return is there so the court can check it over a longer period. Tips are income whether or not they were reported; bonuses and commissions are named in the statute and counted; a one-time payout is argued as to whether it will recur. Overtime is excluded unless the court looks at the preceding twenty-four months and finds it "can reasonably be expected to continue on a consistent basis."
For the self-employed and the 1099 contractor the fight is over expenses. The statute deducts "all reasonable unreimbursed legitimate business expenses," which is not the Schedule C list. Depreciation, the home office, the vehicle that is also the family car, the meals and the phone are the lines the other side will ask the court to add back, and the court adds back the ones that were really living expenses. A contractor who runs the household through the business has, for support purposes, a higher income than his return shows, and a forensic accountant can prove it from the bank statements. The business owner page covers the same books from the valuation side.
Housing, passes, trusts, and the spouse who stopped
In kind means in kind. Employer housing in Teton Village or at the hospital, a season pass, a vehicle, a per diem that exceeds what it covers: each is a "return in kind" the statute names, valued at what it would cost the parent to buy, and added to the number. Trust distributions are "payments made by any payor," regardless of source; a parent with a regular distribution has income in that amount, and whether an irregular or discretionary one counts usually follows the history. The trust interests page covers that argument. Rent from the accessory unit, interest, dividends and K-1 income are income too, with a real fight over undistributed partnership earnings.
Then there is the parent who stopped. Gross income "also means potential income of parents who are voluntarily unemployed or underemployed" (W.S. § 20-2-303(a)(ii)), and the court computes support on that parent's "potential earning capacity (imputed income)" after weighing work history, education, the children at home, the jobs available, local wage rates, special skills, and whether the parent can realistically earn the figure (W.S. § 20-2-307(b)(xi)). A spouse who left a job the month the complaint was filed is imputed at that job. A parent home with the children by agreement for a decade is not, and the statute says so.
- 01Three years of federal returns with every schedule, W-2, 1099 and K-1
- 02Every pay stub for the last twelve months, both seasons, including the one with the year-end bonus
- 03For 1099 and self-employed work: twelve months of invoices, the profit-and-loss, and the business bank statements that prove it
- 04The employer's letter on housing, passes, vehicle and per diem, with the value of each
- 05Trust statements and distribution history for the last three years, and the trust instrument if a parent is a beneficiary
- 06Twelve months of personal bank and credit card statements, because deposits and spending are the check on everything above
- 07For a parent who is not working: the résumé, the last job's pay, and local postings for the same work
The affidavit is required by statute; the documents are what make it believable. Run the numbers on the Wyoming child support calculator once the income is settled, because the table does the rest.
Where the income number goes.
- Child support. Both parents' net monthly incomes are combined, the table gives the joint obligation, and it is split in proportion to each parent's share (W.S. § 20-2-304(a)); where each parent has the children more than a quarter of the overnights, the shared-responsibility formula applies. The result is presumed correct, and an order that departs from it must say why (W.S. § 20-2-307). The child support page covers the rest.
- Alimony. There is no table. The court may award "reasonable alimony out of the estate of the other having regard for the other's ability to pay" (W.S. § 20-2-114(a)), and ability to pay is a judgment about the whole picture: earnings, in-kind benefits, the property each spouse keeps and what it yields. The same evidence is argued rather than calculated.
- Support while the case is pending. From the day of filing the court may order either spouse to pay what the other needs to live on and to carry the case (W.S. § 20-2-111), and the income picture at that first hearing shapes what follows. The temporary orders page covers the motion.
- Later changes. A support order can be reviewed when the presumptive amount would move twenty percent or more (W.S. § 20-2-311(a)), which in a seasonal economy happens to someone every year. The support modification page explains the rule.
The high earner, the hidden earner, and the court.
Income above the top of the table, the parent who will not produce, the affidavit's confidential file, and Teton County practice
Above the table
The tables stop at a combined net monthly income of fifteen thousand dollars and continue with a marginal percentage "of anything over" that line (W.S. § 20-2-304(a)). A good share of Teton County households are above it. The arithmetic still runs and is still presumed correct, but the court may depart from it on a specific finding that the presumptive amount "would be unjust or inappropriate in that particular case" (W.S. § 20-2-307(b)). At the high end the argument is about what the children actually need against what the formula yields, and about income that is real on paper and unavailable in fact: undistributed partnership earnings, phantom K-1 income, a one-time gain.
The parent who will not produce
Income is proved from documents, and a parent who controls the documents can try to control the number. Rule 26 disclosures are due a month after the answer; what they leave open is pursued with document requests, subpoenas to employers, banks and the trustee, and depositions. The divorce statute lets the court "compel an answer under oath" from either party about "money that he may have or money due or to become due to him from others" (W.S. § 20-2-112(a)). A parent who answers with objections to withhold information should expect sanctions, and a court denied the records can draw its conclusions from the lifestyle. The hidden assets page covers the tools in detail.
The confidential file
The financial affidavits and their attachments "constitute a confidential file," open to the parties, their lawyers and the Department of Family Services and otherwise only by court order (W.S. § 20-2-308(d)). That matters in a small town: a tax return filed with an affidavit is not a public record. The affidavit is also where credibility is first spent. A number the other side can disprove from your own return, or from the bank statements the court will see anyway, is the most expensive line on the form.
In Teton County
Every support case in the county is heard by one district judge, and her scheduling process asks about the disclosures first: at the scheduling conference, run by her judicial assistant by phone, counsel is expected to say when the Rule 26 disclosures were due and whether they are complete. Discovery disputes usually go to a special master on an expedited response period. Mediation is ordered if either parent asks, and support cases settle once both parents are looking at the same income evidence; a mediation held before the returns and stubs are exchanged is a mediation held twice. The court sits in temporary courtrooms at 250 East Simpson Avenue; the courthouse page has the details, and the divorce page covers the case as a whole.
What people ask about income.
My income is seasonal. What number goes on the affidavit?
Do tips count as income for child support?
I am a 1099 contractor. Is my income my gross receipts or my profit?
Does employee housing or a ski pass count as income?
My spouse quit working when the divorce started. Does the court use zero?
Is income for alimony the same as income for child support?
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