Budnick v. Budnick

In Budnick v. Budnick, 42 Va. App. 823, 595 S.E.2d 50, 59 (Va. Ct. App. 2004), the husband argued wife's refusal to accept a job transfer to a different geographical area constituted voluntary unemployment and the resulting loss of income should be imputed to her at the salary she would have earned. When wife's position was terminated and she was asked to relocate, the parties' daughter was a senior in high school and their son was enrolled in special education classes. The court found, "no authority for a per se rule which would hold that a supporting spouse always becomes voluntarily underemployed or unemployed when he or she refuses to accept an offer of comparable employment in another geographical location." Id. Moreover, "whether failure to relocate constitutes voluntary unemployment or underemployment, sufficient to justify imputing income is a matter for a trial court to determine on the particular facts of the case before it." Id.