Marr. of Ficke

INTRODUCTION

In this dissolution action, the trial court awarded custody of a couple’s two teenage children to the mother 95 percent of the time. The court found the father makes $8,088 a month, including $4,112 net from two separate property rentals. The mother, by contrast, had an income of $251 a month from a startup business. Ordinarily, in such circumstances, the father would pay much more than the $1,368 a month in child support he was ordered to pay. The reduction in child support, however, was effected by imputing $13,333 in monthly income to the mother. But the net support paid to the mother was then further reduced by the trial court’s order to award spousal support to the father from the mother. The trial court entered an order making the mother pay the father $700 in spousal support. The total net support for the mother ended up at $668 a month.

The mother has appealed from these orders. We hold:

(1) As to child support, the trial court abused its discretion in imputing income to the mother without an express finding supported by substantial evidence that the imputation would benefit the children. (See In re Marriage of Cheriton (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 269,…