In the Matter of the State of New Hampshire and Lounder
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Respondent, Cory Lounder appealed a superior court order denying his petition to modify child support. He argued that the trial court erred by concluding that his incarcerated status made him ineligible for a reduction in support. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded this case for further consideration. "Because incarceration may cause a substantial change of circumstances sufficient to warrant modification, the trial court must consider incarceration when determining whether to modify a child support order. This does not, however, preclude a court from determining that a parent has remaining sources of income such that modification is unwarranted." There was no evidence in the record from which the trial court could have found that respondent was voluntarily unemployed: he was involuntarily terminated from his employment following his arrest and incarceration. Likewise, there was no evidence that his motive for committing the crime which led to his incarceration was to avoid his child support obligations. "While a trial court has discretion to impute income upon a finding of voluntary unemployment, it cannot impute income without such a finding."
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