I don't want to reveal too much personal information in this post, but I have a friend going through a contentious divorce in CA. He was a high earner (~$500K/yr) and she still is a high earner (~$500K/yr). He has since been laid off 3x in 12 months, and does not believe he's capable of earning his original wage (shrinking, highly competitive industry), and additionally, his original wage was predicated on him working excessive hours (80-100+).

Question for the peanut gallery, since lawyers will never give any clear response to this stuff: (1) Through a vocational evaluator, what's he likely to be imputed to? (bad job market, shrinking industry, excessive hours worked) - his lawyer said maybe more like $250K - do any high earners who got laid off have experience with this? (2) If he was imputed to more than he actually earns, at what point in the future do his prior wages start to "roll off" in the eyes of the court, and he could go back to have his income adjusted to the "real" amount? In two years? In three years? In five years? Never? It's very hard to get any straight answers on this question so I'm trying to see if anyone in here has any experience with this.