In re Marriage of Regnery (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 1367
Holding
Established the foundational California test for imputing earning capacity in lieu of actual income: ability, willingness, and opportunity to earn. Without evidence of ability and opportunity, the power to impute “would easily devolve into a trial judge’s power to arbitrarily establish a support order at any given level.” Earning capacity may still be considered when ability and opportunity are present even without willingness, where the payor is unwilling to pay.
Relevance to this matter
Anchor citation against any imputation argument that does not produce ability + opportunity evidence (resumes, tailored job advertisements, specific employment opportunities, vocational expert testimony). Pair with In re Marriage of Bardzik, Mendoza v. Ramos, and Mercado v. Superior Court for the moving-party-burden line of authority defending against opposing counsel’s attempt to impute Charles’s pre-Mail Station Northrop Grumman income.