James Warren Illetschko v. Jennifer Jo Illetschko, 1516164

Parties divorced in October 2015; they have two minor children (mother has a daughter father had adopted in 2007; they share a son).
Father moved to modify child support, alleging mother received a raise and took a second job.
By the hearing, mother had quit the second job; she testified she quit for multiple reasons including employer leave/coverage policies, childcare concerns, a stressful work environment, and because she feared the job would increase her child support obligations.
Trial court found mother voluntarily left the job but credited some valid reasons (childcare, employer demands, family relationships) and declined to impute the second-job income to her.
Father also sought attorney’s fees; the trial court denied fees after considering both parties’ conduct and ability to pay, noting limited funds and preferring resources be used for the children’s therapy.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the court erred by not imputing income from mother’s second job	Father: income from the second job should be imputed despite her quitting	Mother: quitting was for valid, reasonable, good-faith reasons (childcare, employer demands, family needs)	Affirmed — appellate court upheld trial court’s discretion not to impute income because judge reasonably found other valid reasons and acted within discretion
Whether the court erred by denying father attorney’s fees and costs	Father: he prevailed and should receive fees, especially since mother was self-represented	Mother: no fee award appropriate given equities, both parties’ conduct, and limited resources	Affirmed — trial court acted within discretion after weighing outcome, conduct, and ability to pay; no abuse of discretion

Niblett v. Niblett, 65 Va. App. 616, 779 S.E.2d 839 (Va. Ct. App. 2015) (child support imputation determinations are fact-specific and reviewed for abuse of discretion)
Murphy v. Murphy, 65 Va. App. 581, 779 S.E.2d 236 (Va. Ct. App. 2015) (employment decisions for child-support imputation evaluated for good faith and reasonableness)
Bennett v. Va. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., Div. of Child Support Enforcement ex rel. Bennett, 22 Va. App. 684, 472 S.E.2d 668 (Va. Ct. App. 1996) (standard for reviewing imputation decisions)
Cirrito v. Cirrito, 44 Va. App. 287, 605 S.E.2d 268 (Va. Ct. App. 2004) (attorney’s fees in divorce are within trial court’s discretion after considering equities)
Artis v. Artis, 4 Va. App. 132, 354 S.E.2d 812 (Va. Ct. App. 1987) (fee-award discretion in divorce suits)
Rinaldi v. Rinaldi, 53 Va. App. 61, 669 S.E.2d 359 (Va. Ct. App. 2008) (factors for awarding fees include outcome, conduct, and ability to pay)
O’Loughlin v. O’Loughlin, 23 Va. App. 690, 479 S.E.2d 98 (Va. Ct. App. 1996) (appellate award of fees normally denied absent special circumstances)