Marriage of Li and Chen CA6

Filed 07/03/23 Marriage of Li and Chen CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

In re the Marriage of HUA LI and H050276 WENJUAN CHEN. (Santa Clara County Super. Ct. No. 2011-6-FL-006424)

HUA LI,

Appellant,

v.

WENJUAN CHEN,

Respondent.

Appellant Hua Li appeals from an order denying his request to modify child support obligation. Li contends that the trial court should have recalculated his obligations due to the termination of his employment in May 2021. Indeed, Li appears to have sought to eliminate all child support obligations. A parent, however, is not relieved of support obligations whenever he or she loses his job. Instead, income may be imputed based on a parent’s earning capacity unless the parent presents evidence that he or she lacked the ability to find employment or had no reasonable opportunities to obtain further employment. Li failed to present any evidence to the trial court concerning his earning capacity or even that he attempted to find a new job. The trial court therefore had

adequate grounds for determining that Li failed to demonstrate a change in circumstances justifying a reduction in, much less an elimination of, his support obligations. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND Li is a software engineer. In 2008, he had a child with respondent Wenjuan Chen. In 2019, after suspending Li’s visitation rights, the trial court entered an order setting Li’s monthly child support obligation at the guideline amount of $1,362, plus an additional $329 for extracurricular activities, for a total month obligation of $1,691, effective January 1, 2019. Between March 2020 and February 2021, the trial court entered three income withholding orders to deduct current and past-due child support from Li’s income. Li’s appeal from these orders was denied in February 2023. (See Li v. Chen (Feb. 28, 2023, B322897 [nonpub. opn.]).) On May 25, 2021, NBC Universal Production, which had employed Li since 2012, terminated him in what Li described as a reorganization. The following day, Li requested that his child support obligations be modified in light of his unemployment, and he attached a printout of the California Child Support Services Guideline Calculator purporting to show that his monthly child support obligation should be reduced to zero based on his lack of any monthly income. Chen opposed Li’s request, and the trial court denied the request at a hearing on October 28, 2021. On November 10, 2021, Li filed a second request to modify child support. This time Li attached copies of his separation agreement from NBC Universal, a printout of unemployment insurance payment information, and a printout of the assessed value of his home. In addition, while he had not indicated any income in his prior request, he now indicated that he was receiving unemployment compensation of $1,950 per month. As Li recorded only $4,000 in cash, he does not appear to have accounted for the approximately $57,000 (equal to 18 weeks of his base salary) in severance pay promised by NBC Universal. Li once again calculated that his child support obligation to Chen should be