Child support.

(1) Existing law provides statewide uniform guidelines for determining the appropriate amount of a child support order. Existing law includes as an element in that calculation the income of each parent. Existing law defines parental annual gross income with reference to a nonexclusive list of income sources, including wages, pensions, interest, and trust income, among others. Existing law authorizes a court to also consider the earning capacity of a parent in lieu of the parent's income and considering, among other things, the best interests of the child. This bill would require a court to consider specific circumstances of the parent, including, the parent's job skills and record of seeking work, if a court considers the earning capacity of that parent. The bill would prohibit the court from considering the parent's incarceration or involuntary institutionalization, as specified, as voluntary unemployment for purposes of determining a parent's earning capacity. (2) Existing law requires each county to maintain a local child support agency that is responsible for establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations, including medical support, enforcing spousal support orders, and determining paternity, as specified. Existing law requires the Judicial Council, in consultation with the Department of Child Support Services (department) and others to develop simplified summons, complaint, and answer forms for any action for support brought pursuant to those provisions. Existing law requires the simplified complaint form to provide notice of the amount of child support that is sought pursuant to the uniform state guidelines based upon the income or income history of the support obligor as known to the child support agency or the presumed income if the support obligor's income is unknown. This bill, effective January 1, 2022, would, among other things, require that simplified complaint form to provide notice of the amount of child support that is sought based upon one of four applicable methods used to determine income, including, actual income, earning capacity, and reliable income history, or presumed income, as provided, if actual income, earning capacity, reliable income history are unknown. The bill would authorize the department to implement and administer these provisions through a child support services letter or similar instruction. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to implement these provisions by January 1, 2024.