Opinion ID: 1247879
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Overtime Wages

Text: In Stuczynski, the husband's overtime wages at ConAgra had been included in his income as calculated by the district court. We found no abuse of discretion in the inclusion of the husband's ConAgra overtime wages because the husband could reasonably expect to earn a certain amount of overtime, his overtime was not speculative in nature, and he had some control over the income. Conversely, in the case at hand, the district court refused to include overtime wages in calculating the father's income. We conclude, however, that the rule from Stuczynski extends to the case before us: If the father earns or can reasonably expect to earn a certain amount of income on a regular basis, such income should be included in the child support calculation unless the presumption is rebutted by showing that the income is speculative in nature and that it is income over which the father has little or no control. The record shows that the father in this case does not work as many overtime hours as he did when the original decree was issued and that his overtime is no longer mandatory as it was then. The father, however, consistently works approximately 5 hours of overtime per pay period (every 2 weeks). There was no evidence that the father expects his overtime to decrease, nor was there any evidence that the father would work fewer hours in the future. The evidence shows that the father regularly works 5 hours of overtime per pay period, and we infer from the evidence of such consistent income that the father can reasonably expect to continue working 5 hours of overtime per pay period. Thus, the mother has met her burden of showing that the overtime is a regular part of the father's income and that he can expect to regularly work 5 hours of overtime per pay period. The father presented no evidence to rebut the presumption of including the overtime wages. On the contrary, the fact that the father consistently has 5 hours of overtime per pay period shows that the income is not speculative, and the fact that he chooses to work the overtime reveals that he has control over the income. Therefore, the district court erred in excluding the overtime wages from the father's child support calculation. We determine that the equivalent of 5 hours of overtime per pay period is to be included in calculating the father's income.