A sudden change in economic circumstance, as in the case of a prize like Lotto, can have an effect on the amount of child support or alimony you pay even if it is arguable that the lump sum that you received is a one-time event.
Let’s say you’ve just gotten a one-time bonus of one-hundred-thousand dollars from your employer. If your ex-spouse wants an increase in spousal support because of your one-time bonus, the court’s going to come back and say, “But this isn’t recurring. Why would we change child or spousal support because of a one-time bonus?”
That is considered a “rogue moment” because it’s not recurring. So, the issue is if you have a change in your income status, and that change is a recurring change, then you can petition successfully for higher or lower child support or spousal support, if it’s enough of a change to the recipient on a monthly basis to warrant the change. Typically, to determine whether it’s a sufficient change in economic circumstances, we run the numbers again and discuss with you whether or not you’ve met the threshold for filing.