Can my spouse avoid child support by claiming that he or she is unemployed?

No. If a person is unemployed or underemployed, the courts in the Kansas City area can and usually will "impute," or assign, an amount of income to that person, and require child support to be paid anyway. The court may be somewhat lenient in allowing the person time to become employed, but the position of almost every Kansas City area court is that a child requires financial support, and the parents must find income to satisfy the obligation.