| Matter of Barnett v Ruotolo |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 02145 [49 AD3d 640] |
| March 11, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| In the Matter of Joan Barnett, Respondent, v FrancesStephen Ruotolo, Appellant. |
—[*1] Richard Paul Stone, New York, N.Y., for respondent.
In a child support proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 4, the father appeals froman order of the Family Court, Suffolk County (Simeone, J.), dated February 9, 2007, whichdenied his objections to an order of the same court (Grier, S.M.), dated November 6, 2006,which, after a hearing, inter alia, directed him to pay child support in the sum of $2,100 permonth.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
A Support Magistrate is permitted to impute income in calculating a support obligationwhere he or she finds that a party's account of their finances is not credible or suspect (see DeVries v DeVries, 35 AD3d794 [2006]; Matter of Westenbergerv Westenberger, 23 AD3d 571 [2005]; Peri v Peri, 2 AD3d 425 [2003]; Lilikakis v Lilikakis, 308AD2d 435 [2003]). "However, in exercising the discretion to impute income to a party, a SupportMagistrate is required to provide a clear record of the source from which the income is imputedand the reasons for such imputation" (Matter of Kristy Helen T. v Richard F.G., 17 AD3d 684, 685[2005]).
Here, the father did not testify and chose to rely on the financial documentation he hadsubmitted, which contained considerable discrepancies. The father's financial documentationindicated that his monthly income was only approximately one third of his stated monthlyexpenses, and no evidence was submitted to show that these monthly expenses were not beingpaid in a timely manner. Accordingly, the Family Court did not improvidently exercise itsdiscretion in imputing income based upon the father's self-reported financial affidavit for thepurpose of calculating his [*2]child support obligation (see Matter of Strella v Ferro, 42 AD3d544 [2007]; Pulver v Pulver, 40AD3d 1315 [2007]; Askew v Askew, 268 AD2d 635 [2000]). Mastro, J.P., Florio,Miller and Dickerson, JJ., concur.