When income fluctuates, a court "could average a party's income over a reasonable period of time," but must first run the support guidelines "based on actual current-year income, and then, after that, explicitly analyze whether higher income in earlier years" showed a greater earning capacity that makes the presumptive guideline amount inappropriate or unjust, the Court of Appeals says in a published case, Tidwell v. Late (5/30/17).
It also says modifying child support effective as of the date of the trial was not error, "since the amount of father's income was one of the main issues of this case."
The father complained that the trial judge did not read his 17-page pretrial brief. The appeals court says that it is not deciding whether the trial court was required to do so, but even if it were error, it was harmless because the father presented the same material orally in the trial and the judge listened.