Washington state uses a standard child support formula that is based on the incomes of each spouse. In addition to the base income, other types of income are included such as overtime, and wages from a second job. Income that does not repeat such as one time gifts, one bonuses, and prizes are not included. If someone is voluntarily under-employed then State law “imputes” income to that person which means that person gets treated as if they were making what they should if they had not been working fewer hours to avoid paying child support. The worksheet designate a standard transfer payment from the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent. The formula only goes up to a combined income of $12,000 a month for the parties. Once you get past that the transfer payment does not go up much. In some cases you can argue for an extrapolated economic table which often requires software only available to legal professionals. There are also deviations available depending on the case.
