# work related question...



## sam (Jul 2, 2009)

so my wife, in her declaration for a temp support order had her lawyer place some kind of add on called a smith ostler award for bonuses commisions and overtime???

I have never recieved a bonus or a commision, and I rarely get overtime at work, maybe five hours of OT last year, and 1.5 hours this year so far. 

I do on occasion work freelance for other companies, but this work is very unpredictable, and there may be times where i work 5 days in a row and then not get another job with them for many months. 

How will the freelance factor in? since it is so variable it seems unfair to make me pay more every month, wouldnt it be wiser to just pay a percentage of the work when I do get it?


Oh, im in california BTW.

Thanks


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## Affaircare (Jan 11, 2010)

Actually that is kind of what Smith-Ostler is: 

Practical Solutions for Obtaining Ostler/Smith Orders

"...rather than setting a fixed monthly amount of child support, ordered a base monthly amount of child support plus a flat percentage of the payor's bonus income. In the years following Ostler and Smith, ordering a percentage of future variable income as additional support became a commonly used tool for family law attorneys and judges to deal with cash bonuses and other types of compensation including stock options, restricted stock and Employee Stock Ownership Plans. It is easy to see why --- "Ostler/Smith orders" eliminate the risk that a payor will be ordered to pay child support on income the payor may never receive."

In human language it means that temporary CS is set at $ X amount + X% of any freelance income.


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