Butt v. Schmidt

747 N.W.2d 566, 2008 Minn. LEXIS 184, 2008 WL 1747395
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedApril 17, 2008
DocketA06-1015
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 747 N.W.2d 566 (Butt v. Schmidt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butt v. Schmidt, 747 N.W.2d 566, 2008 Minn. LEXIS 184, 2008 WL 1747395 (Mich. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

Appellant Wayne Alan Butt commenced this action for the dissolution of his marriage to respondent Eleanor Anna Schmidt. After the district court issued its final dissolution judgment and decree, Butt sought relief from the court of appeals, claiming that the district court erred when it 1) failed to apply Butt’s child support calculation retroactively to the date the parties entered into a stipulation for joint custody; 2) declined to impute earned income to Schmidt when calculating child support; and 3) refused to treat Schmidt’s spousal maintenance award as income when calculating child support. The court of appeals affirmed in part as to the issues of retroactive application of child support and imputation of earned income for purposes of child support. But the court reversed in part, remanding on the issue of treating Schmidt’s spousal maintenance award as income for calculating child support. In its opinion, the court of appeals also indicated that the district court could modify its spousal maintenance award.

We granted review as to whether 1) the court of appeals erred when it gave the district court jurisdiction to modify spousal maintenance after the parties had waived the right to future modification of maintenance; 2) the district court erred by failing to impute income to Schmidt; and 3) the district court erred by failing to retroactively apply the final child support calculation to the date that the court ordered joint custody of the children. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

On December 23, 2003, appellant Wayne Alan Butt commenced this action to dissolve his marriage with respondent Eleanor Anna Schmidt. When the action was commenced, the parties had three minor children and one emancipated child. Both parties filed motions for temporary relief regarding, among other things, child custody, child support, and spousal maintenance. Based on the parties’ motions and a hearing, the district court awarded the parties temporary joint legal custody and Schmidt temporary sole physical custody of the minor children. The court further ordered that, in light of Butt’s income and Schmidt’s unemployment, Butt pay Schmidt temporary child support in the amount of $2,358 per month and temporary spousal maintenance in the amount of $1,010 per month. The court stated that *569 the following issues would be reviewed de novo at trial: 1) Butt’s income and withholding; 2) Schmidt’s employment status; and 3) Butt’s spousal maintenance obligation.

In November 2004, Butt filed a motion to eliminate his temporary spousal maintenance payments. The district court did not rule on this motion, so in May 2005, Butt filed a second motion to eliminate spousal maintenance. At the same time, Butt filed a demand for updated discovery responses. Schmidt opposed Butt’s motion to eliminate maintenance, stating that she was unemployed and had no income apart from child support and spousal maintenance. Schmidt did indicate that she recently enrolled in school to pursue a health unit coordinator degree.

On May 27, 2005, Butt deposed Schmidt. In response to an inquiry about her past employment, Schmidt stated:

In the past I’ve worked retail at Target, and I’ve done in-home daycare. I stayed home to raise my kids since they were all born, so I’ve done a lot of daycare. And then like I said, I’ve done Target, and I used to work at Sam’s Club years ago when I was pregnant with my oldest boy, but once I had him, we decided that I would be the one to stay home and take care of the children.

Schmidt also said that after high school she obtained a cosmetology license but never pursued a career in that field because she and Butt moved to California shortly after they got married. Schmidt stated that she did not currently have a job or any earned income. She stated that her last job was as a para-professional substitute at a Woodbury junior high school. Further, Schmidt indicated that she had recently taken out a student loan to take an education course to become a health unit coordinator. Schmidt planned to take part-time evening classes in July and said the course would last until September. When asked if she planned to work when she started school, Schmidt responded that “[ejventually, yes, I want to get a job,” but that she could not work at the time because she just had back surgery and was in a lot of pain. While Schmidt did not know the average salary of a health unit coordinator, she stated that a friend working in the field makes $13 per hour. According to the guardian ad litem’s report, Schmidt completed her course work and at some point during the dissolution proceedings was working part-time as a health unit coordinator.

On January 7, 2005, the parties entered into a stipulation concerning parenting time. The stipulation was incorporated into a court order in May 2005. The order stated that the parties would share legal custody of their three minor children and set out a detailed parenting schedule upon which the parties had agreed. The order further stated that the parenting time stipulation “shall be effective immediately and shall be incorporated into the final judgment and decree entered in this matter.” The stipulation did not address spousal maintenance or child support.

On August 3, 2005, the district court denied Butt’s November 2004 and May 2005 motions to eliminate temporary spousal maintenance. The court stated:

This matter is set for pre-trial on November 3, 2005, and a court trial bn December 1, 2005. The Court does not intend to repeatedly readdress issues raised by the temporary hearing pending pre-trial and trial. The court will therefore deny the Petitioner’s motion to terminate spousal maintenance.

The court also denied Butt’s motion for updated discovery.

On December 27, 2005, the parties entered into a Marital Termination Agree *570 ment where the parties stipulated to spousal maintenance. The agreement also incorporated the prior custody and parenting time stipulation. That same day, the district court issued a dissolution judgment and decree that incorporated the Marital Termination Agreement. The decree included the following findings: 1) Butt earns a gross monthly income of $8,839 and after allowable deductions, has a monthly net income of $5,633; 2) Butt earns a periodic bonus and received a bonus in the amount of $12,000 in 2004; and 3) Schmidt is not employed and has no retirement, 401k, or pension plan available to her.

The decree then set out the parties’ stipulations, as agreed upon in the Marital Termination Agreement. First, it set out the terms of custody and parenting time to which the parties previously stipulated. The spousal maintenance section of the decree ordered Butt to pay Schmidt $1,000 per month in maintenance for 42 months. The decree also provided that except for the $1,000 per month, both parties waive any claim to maintenance. In support of this waiver the parties made the following affirmations:

a. Each party is fully capable of self-support and is not dependent upon the other for additional support in the form of spousal maintenance;
b.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
747 N.W.2d 566, 2008 Minn. LEXIS 184, 2008 WL 1747395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butt-v-schmidt-minn-2008.