Court Opinion

ID: 9765308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:59:26.20434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:08.601642
License: Public Domain

PIEPER, J.,
concurring:
I concur in the decision to remand. However, I write separately because I would clarify that the party asserting voluntary underemployment or voluntary unemployment should carry the initial burden of proof on the issue.
South Carolina has not yet addressed this issue; however, other states have found that the party asserting voluntary underemployment or voluntary unemployment shoulders the burden of proof at the time of the initial determination. See, e.g., Prisco v. Stroup, 3 A.3d 316, 320 (D.C.2010) (“When one parent seeks to impute income to another who has involuntarily lost her job, the burden is on the party seeking the imputation to prove that the other parent was voluntarily foregoing more gainful employment by showing that more lucrative work was currently available.”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); McCants v. McCants, 984 So.2d 678, 681 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.2008) (noting the party asserting the voluntary underemployment of his or her spouse shoulders the burden of proof); Burkley v. Burkley, 911 So.2d 262, 269 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.2005) (finding when the wife offered no evidence of the husband’s ability to be gainfully employed and relied solely on the fact that he had previously worked, the wife’s claim of voluntary underemployment must fail because she wrongly attempted to shift the burden of proof); Staffrey *261v. Smith, 2010-0hio-1296, 2010 WL 1177647 at * 7 (Ohio Ct.App. Mar. 25, 2010) (“When one parent claims that the other parent is voluntarily underemployed, the parent making this claim has the initial burden of proof.... Once the parent making the voluntary underemployment claim has met this burden, the burden shifts to the underemployed parent to show that he or she is working at his or her potential.”) (internal citations omitted); Wine v. Wine, 245 S.W.3d 389, 394 (Tenn.Ct.App.2007) (reversing the denial of the petition to reduce child support because the trial court erroneously placed the burden on the father to prove that he was not willfully underemployed when the burden of proof was on the mother); In re B.R., 327 S.W.3d 208, 213 (Tex.App.2010) (“Once the obligor has offered proof of his current wages, the obligee bears the burden of demonstrating the obligor is intentionally underemployed.”); In re J.G.L., 295 S.W.3d 424, 427 (Tex.App.2009) (describing the analysis for voluntary underemployment and noting that once the obligor’s wages are established, the burden shifts to the obligee to demonstrate the obligor’s intent to decrease income for the purpose of reducing child support payments); Mir v. Mir, 39 Va.App. 119, 571 S.E.2d 299, 304 (2002) (“The burden is on the party seeking the imputation to prove that the other parent was voluntarily foregoing more gainful employment, either by producing evidence of a higher-paying former job or by showing that more lucrative work was currently available.”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); Blackburn v. Michael, 30 Va.App. 95, 515 S.E.2d 780, 784 (1999) (holding the court may impute income to the party asserting a need for support based on a finding of voluntary underemployment, but the burden of proof is on the party seeking imputation).
Accordingly, in the best interests of the parties’ children and because this burden of proof issue has not been addressed in our jurisprudence, I would allow the record to be reopened on remand with the burden appropriately noted.