Bachelor degree jobs

child support obligor's pursuit of bachelor's degree does not exempt him from income imputation based on previous jobs

Mancil v. Smith, 18 P.3d 509 (Utah Ct. App. 2000).

A Utah appellate court held that a father who is attending college to obtain a bachelor's degree is not entitled to an exemption under Utah Code Ann. 78-45-7.5(7)(d) from having income imputed to him for purposes of calculating child support. That statutory provision prohibits the imputation of income for child support purposes when a parent is engaged in career or occupational training to establish basic job skills.

Here, a couple divorced and the husband enrolled in school to obtain a bachelor's degree. The state sought an order requiring him to pay child support for the couple's two children. The trial court imputed income to him based on his income at previous jobs. He moved for summary judgment, arguing that income should not have been imputed to him while he was a full-time college student earning a bachelor's degree. The trial court denied the motion.

Affirming, the appellate court noted that the precise scope of what constitutes "career or occupational training to establish basic job skills" has never been determined by the state's appellate courts. The court then considered the dictionary definitions of the statute's key terms-career, occupation, and basic. The dictionary defines "career" as "a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement." "Occupation" is defined as "a craft, trade, profession or other means of earning a living." Finally, "basic" is defined as "constituting or serving as the basis or starting point."

Viewed in this context, the court said, the basic job skills training envisioned by the statute is training that can aid a person in achieving an income beyond the minimum wage job that can be had with no training. A bachelor's degree provides employment opportunities far beyond what is needed as the basis or starting point to rise above a minimum wage job, the court found. Thus, the court concluded, a four-year college education is not the training to establish basic job skills that is contemplated by the statute. Instead, the court held, the statute applies only to shortterm job training that is a condition of employment at a fairly fundamental level.

Mother's Counsel

Dawn Mancil, pro se