Do gifts from grandparents constitute income for support?

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No. Experienced family law attorneys will tell clients that gifts do not constitute income available for support. 


Under the Marriage of Williamson, the court of appeal held that large and sporadic gifts from the husband’s parents to the husband during the marriage, which had supported a very lavish marital lifestyle, were not includable as the husband’s income for purposes for calculating child support.


In the Marriage of Williamson, the husband’s father had amended his trust to provide that any loan balances and accrued interest due and owing by the husband at the time of distribution would be subtracted from the husband’s portion of the inheritance, and had testified that he did not intend to make any further advances or “loans” to the husband other than a small annual gift. Because there was no reasonable indication that the husband’s father would continue to give the husband any gifts except the annual gift, imputing income based on prior gifts would lead to a child support order based on money that the husband did not have.  

Contact me at amanda@gordonfamilylaw.com for more information.

My child receives derivative Social Security payments due to my disability, is that income for support?

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California parents who are disabled or retired often inquire into how their child’s derivative benefits impact child support.


In California, the receipt of benefits by a child, or someone else on the child’s behalf, from federal programs or agencies such as Social Security, the Railroad Retirement Act, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs by reason of the support obligor’s disability or retirement may be credited toward the parent who pays child support (unless those amounts were taken into account in making the support order).
In 2014, a California appellate court held that a child’s derivative social security benefits do not constitute part of the parents income for the purposes of support. Marriage of Daugherty (2014).  

What this means is that if your child is receiving additional Social Security due to your own disability or retirement, the other parent will have a reduced amount of child support per month.

Contact me at amanda@gordonfamilylaw.com for more information.

Will the fact that my employer offers perks like meals, per diem, and gym memberships impact the amount of child support I pay?

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Yes. Under Marriage of Schulze, employer perks are income available for support to the extent that they reduce a person’s living expenses.   For example, in California the use of a company car and company condo at below market rate was taken into consideration when awarding support.  However, there are some limitations on this rule as it does not encompass rent free housing outside of the employment benefits context.

Contact me at amanda@gordonfamilylaw.com for more information.

Worried about your spouse making support payments?

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If your spouse is no longer employed, it may be challenging to collect spousal support. However, Bay Area family law attorneys will tell clients that the Court can order the supporting spouse to provide reasonable security for the payments they have been ordered to make. Family Code Section 4339.  Reasonable security can include maintaining life insurance for the benefit of the supported spouse on the life of the payor in the form of a trust or annuity.  Another option is that the court can order a lien of limited duration on a supporting spouse's separate property to secure the payment of spousal and child support.