Sometimes your most recent income doesn't accurately reflect your future earning potential for child support purposes. This happens when your income includes non-recurring amounts, fluctuates significantly, or shows clear patterns that need special consideration. So you can review the last three years of income to determine something more fair.

If you received income from selling a vacation property or other capital gains and they had to include a portion of that gain as income that won't happen again, you may agree that that's not likely going to happen again this year and decide to leave it out. The same principle applies to non-recurring business or investment losses. if you claimed a major loss one year that won't repeat, it should likely be agreed to remove it from this year's calculation.

Business owners often experience income variations from year to year. Some years bring excellent returns while others, especially during events like COVID, can show major fluctuations. When dealing with fluctuating business income, the solution is typically averaging your last three years of earnings to get a fairer picture.

If your income history shows a clear pattern – for example, consistent 20% increases over the past four years – the most reasonable determination for this year might be projecting this trend forward. Instead of using just last year's income, you'd take that amount and add the expected 20% increase to reflect your actual earning trajectory.

The goal is ensuring child support calculations reflect your true financial capacity rather than being skewed by unusual circumstances or temporary fluctuations. This approach protects both parents by creating fair, realistic support obligations based on genuine earning potential.

If your income situation involves any of these complexities, it's worth discussing with a family lawyer who can help determine the most appropriate income figure for your support calculations.