What if a parent goes to college or changes careers to reduce or eliminate their income?

If a parent goes to college or changes career in an effort to reduce income in order to reduce a support obligation, the courts will often, nonetheless, impute income to that parent at the level that he or she was earning prior to this voluntary act. The exception is that if a parent goes to college in order to get a different career that eventually will increase his or her income, a court might temporarily reduce the child support obligation because once the student graduates, the parent will have more income, and the child would benefit from the parent's increased education.