The COVID-19 pandemic unquestionably altered people’s ways of working and making money because to disruptions in supply chains, severe shortages of personnel, and the subsequent rise of remote labour. As the pandemic lasted longer, the already-thriving gig economy exploded. The number of self-employed workers increased as more people learned they could enjoy greater job autonomy and depend less on any one source of income.
However, divorce processes can become quite difficult when one spouse is self-employed or has a gig economy job. Get the facts if you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse both have side hustles as you plan your divorce. Find a local divorce lawyer near me to discuss your situation more.
Paying child support might be difficult when there are multiple sources of income.
That having many sources of income might make child support more difficult is not news. This is typically the case for top earners, as most of them did not climb to their position with just one work. They could be benefiting from passive income such as rental properties, part-time jobs, or other opportunities. These part-time jobs, however, aren’t necessarily reliable. The court’s ability to determine alimony and child support may become incredibly complicated as a result.
Compare that to six months later, when the weather is nice and people don’t mind going out for their own food at night. Now, the same nights that once landed them $100 to $200 now barely hit $50. How can you plan your monthly bills on such fluctuating income?
Earnings Potentially Unstable
Earnings from a side hustle, no matter what kind, are never guaranteed. If you babysit, you can see an increase in your earnings during the winter vacations, when more parents want to go out. A bad storm could be a boon for your takeaway delivery business if you use a service like DoorDash. Your AirBnB revenues may peak in the summer if you own a house that you rent out.
This raises the challenge of how determining spousal and/or child support payments when income fluctuates from month to month.
Set monthly payments can be brutal when your income is dependent on how many gigs you can pick up. Consider a Grubhub driver who decides to work during a snowstorm. Grubhub pays extra for completed gigs because of the uptick in orders, and they end up walking away with several hundred dollars.
The Formula for Determining Child Support
It’s not possible to provide a simple answer to such a nuanced query. There is one constant: a change in financial circumstances does not excuse a parent from their child support obligation. Because of the unpredictable nature of gig labour, some parents choose to work just sometimes in the hopes of getting a lower child support payment from the court. Just doesn’t work that way, unfortunately.
The gig economy has been around as long as traditional work has, but it really hit the mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic. When people found themselves unexpectedly laid off, gig work gave them the freedom to stay at home with their e-learning children and still pay their bills.
A person whose salary fluctuates throughout the year would do well to put money aside at the times when it is higher in order to avoid a cash crunch later.
There are lots of benefits of gig jobs—they are flexible with your schedule, give you some freedom over your income, and may help you out in a pinch when your normal income doesn’t quite cover your expenses. However, gig work can also have a significant impact on your divorce case.
Even though the worst of the pandemic has subsided, gig work continues to be incredibly popular. Some use it to supplement their day job, while others rely solely on gig work for their income. As you might expect, any major shift in how people earn and spend money can shake up the world of divorce law. This remains true for the sudden increase in gig work.