Does Gnall Suggest That We Should Be Filing Motions To Get Stay At Home Parents Back To Work At The Beginning Of Cases?

I have previously blogged about the permanent alimony and lifestyle aspects of the Gnall case decided by the Appellate Division last week. Gnall had another interesting issue, that is, imputation of income. More specifically, the case discussed whether income should be immediately imputed to a stay at home parent.

In Gnall, the trial court imputed income to the wife of $65,000 per year, concluding that she had "done nothing" pendente lite to obtain employment. In her appeal, the wife claimed that immediately imputing this level of earnings, without allowing any period for retraining and workforce reentry, was error.

The Appellate Division affirmed the finding as to the amount of imputation of income but remanded the matter to the trial court to determine the effective date of the imputation, noting that there was nothing in the record to support a finding that the wife could immediately start earning $65,000. The discussion of this issue was fascinating (assuming one gets...