I sold stock in April of 2008. I was taxed on 100% of the gain in 2008, but received 10% of the proceeds from the sale in 2009. Should the 2009 receipt of funds be included as income in the support calculation for 2009 (even though it is clearly 2008 income and taxed in 2008)?

I sold stock in April of 2008. I was taxed on 100% of the gain in 2008, but received 10% of the proceeds from the sale in 2009. Should the 2009 receipt of funds be included as income in the support calculation for 2009 (even though it is clearly 2008 income and taxed in 2008)?

Since child support is income-based and covers a future period, the income figures should be an accurate prediction of what your future income will be. If the past income is a good indicator of that, then we might consider it (the judge has broad discretion in this area). You could argue that the receipt of the proceeds from the stock sale was a one time disbursement and will not recur in the future and thus should be left out of the child support calculation. That's a possible argument. But most child support guidelines require all income be considered, so how can it be left out? The point is the answer to your question is not all that easy. I've seen it argued both ways. One way to deal with it is to leave it out but pay an additional percentage of child support on any extra money received in the future on stock sales (we do this all the time with bonus income). That percentage would correlate to whatever percentage of your net income is going to child support under the current order. These percentage orders are called Ostler-Smith orders in California and I use them all the time with any kind of fluctuating income.