Loh

I. Introduction

In this child support modification case, the mother, a successful insurance agent, tried to upwardly modify a child support order against her ex-husband, a recently unemployed stockbroker who had just lost his license and started an unrelated business, without first obtaining his most current tax returns. Rather, she merely presented “lifestyle” evidence based on a series of photos showing her ex-spouse at the home of his girlfriend and in or by a series of cars. Based on this evidence, the trial judge found that the ex-spouse had a “nontaxable” income of $9,000—a figure which appears to have been plucked from thin air. The ex-spouse’s income and expense declaration, otherwise noncontroverted at the hearing, showed at most a gross income of $68,000 over the previous 12 months, and that before taxes. We reverse the ensuing child support order. Evidence of lifestyle, particularly a lifestyle subsidized by a new “nonmarital partner” (see Fam. Code, § 4057.5), is not a cheap substitute for proper discovery of income reported on tax returns.

*328 II. Facts

Pamela L. and Victor J. Loh were divorced in July 1997. Pamela was an insurance agent and Victor was an…