How does child support work when you are self employed. My boyfriend is filing for a divorce, we live in AZ. He has 2 natural children, and 1 that he has cared for since birth. He has been afraid to file because he is self employed, he makes good money in the summer, but barely makes a dime in the winter. All the money he makes he puts it into one account, so it shows really good for the summer, $2-$5K per month, but winter it can be as low as under $1K. He says that he has heard that the judge is going to rate him on what his potential is. I disagree, everyone has the potential to make millions but we don't. I know this is a very complicated matter, and I have encouraged him to seek help, but he is BUSY this time of year, and is avoiding it as best he can. The wife works a job paying like $12hr. And she works a lot of hours. Over 40. She has had this job for 1 yr now. He gives her a debit card and she takes what she needs up to 800$ per month. I also told him to create a paper trail, but he doesn't listen. He thinks she is going to go to court, ask for whatever amount she feels is necessary-over $800- and that she will get it. I also told him to stop putting ALL his money into one account, especially the cash that he receives.
CAN YOU ADVISE ON ANY OF THIS?

First many states have min amounts. ( I will assume this is two children he will be paying on, only his natural children can get support unless he adopted)

And he should be paying childsupport now, while separated and not wait for the divorce since he may get charged with back child support to pay.
With no paper trail of money paid to her

And the ex does not need a ATM card on all his money, he could find it all gone in a few weeks.

He needs to write her checks with proof he is paying her money.

The state will have a guide line and may want to see two or three years of his W2 and income tax filings to get a base on his annual earnings.
He will need very detailed records of income, expenses and the such.
Assuming he is filing quarterly taxes and doing a income summary these will most likely also be viewed by the court.

He should take your advice regarding the paper trail. He should also take the debit card away. As far as rating him, the judge will consider his total yearly income and consider a weekly average ; the fact that he earns it in varied amounts at different times of the year is immaterial. As long as he isn't deliberately underemployed the judge will order a weekly amount to be paid based on his average weekly income, according to AZ's child support guidelines.

The Arizona Child Support Guidelines follow the Income Shares Model.The total child support amount approximates the amount that would have been spent on the children if the parents and children were living together. Each parent contributes his/her proportionate share of the total child support amount.
Monthly figures are used to calculate the child support obligation. Any adjustments to
The child support amount shall be annualized so that each month's child support
Obligation is increased or decreased in an equal amount, instead of the obligation for
Particular months being abated, increased or decreased.EXAMPLE: At a child support hearing in a support action a custodial parent requests an adjustment for childcare costs (Section 9.B.1.). The parent incurs childcare costs of
$150 per month but only for nine months of the year. The adjustment for childcare
Costs must be annualized as follows: Multiply the $150 monthly cost times the nine
Months that the cost is actually paid each year, for an annual total of $1,350. Divide this
Total by 12 months to arrive at an annualized monthly adjustment of $113 that may be
Added to the Basic Child Support Obligation when determining the child support order
.

Before starting the calculation, you may want to gather the information listed below, if applicable to your case:
Gross income of both parents
Child support for children of other relationships (court-ordered support)
Spousal maintenance paid or received
Medical/Dental/Vision insurance costs (for children only)
Childcare costs
Extra education expenses
Extraordinary child expenses
Number of children age 12 or over
Month and year of youngest child's birthday
Number of parenting time days per year
Court-ordered arrears paid by the noncustodial parent

By the way Arizona CS calculation is very unfair.