In re Marriage of Bardzik (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 1291
Holding
Refined the Regnery test by recasting it into a 2-pronged ability + opportunity test (with willingness presumed). The party seeking imputation bears the burden, and that burden is not satisfied by showing only that the other parent retains skills and qualifications previously yielding a particular income — even where the parent voluntarily left the prior position. The moving party need not actually show that the imputee would have gotten a specific job if applied, but must produce evidence of present opportunity.
Relevance to this matter
Direct rebuttal authority for opposing counsel’s primary imputation theory — which seeks to impute Charles’s 2022 Northrop Grumman income to him post-layoff and post-business-formation. Bardzik squarely rejects “skills and qualifications still exist” as sufficient. Pair with In re Marriage of Regnery and Mendoza v. Ramos in the Xspouse Objections memo’s moving-party-burden section.