A Manhattan judge properly imputed income in a divorce to an Ivy League-educated wife who stopped full-time lawyering in 1999, since she maintained her law license, engaged in professional activities and did consulting work, an appeals court has ruled.

A unanimous Appellate Division, First Department, panel indicated that the wife and mother of two children, both born in the 1990s, was earning less than she previously had been without good reason and thus income should be imputed to her when determining the husband's maintenance, or alimony, payments and her share of child support.

Prior to divorce proceedings, the panel noted, the wife was accepted to Cornell's Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution and was appointed as an arbitrator for the United Federation of Teachers and New York City Department of Education § 3020-a Hearing Panel. In addition, she rendered a 90-page arbitration decision upheld by a state Supreme Court.