I think child support is based on what he (or sometimes she) could make, based on education and experience, not what they actually make. The idea is to prevent sandbagging, that is, quitting his job and crying poor. wife's ex tried that. He quit his job and went into hiding, but it did him no good. wife had some allies among her ex-in-laws (or as Star calls them, "outlaws" :smile: ) and tracked him down to get the papers served. He had gotten a new job, out of state, and they garnished his checks there. His income tax refunds went to wife too until his arrearages were made up. She had to file an injured spouse return to get his refunds. He declared bankruptcy a few years later but child support is exempt from bankruptcy protection.
In my case, my ex tried to pull a fast one. She had two more babies with different boyfriend's after divorcing me. She was fired from her job and went to apply for AFDC. On the application she listed our two children, who I had joint custody of at the time, plus the other two, but she only listed one of the three fathers: the one who had a job and whose whereabouts were known, me. I got a letter from the DHS saying basically that they were going to come after me for child support. When confronted about it by my lawyer, she withdrew the application then re-applied, this time only listing the other two.