Dennis v. Whitney

844 A.2d 1267, 2004 Pa. Super. 56, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 179
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 8, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 844 A.2d 1267 (Dennis v. Whitney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dennis v. Whitney, 844 A.2d 1267, 2004 Pa. Super. 56, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 179 (Pa. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION BY

MUSMANNO, J.:

¶ 1 Ruth Victoria Dennis (“Mother”) appeals from the trial court’s Order that required Dennis Whitney (“Father”) to pay $300 per month for the support of their child, A.D. We affirm.

¶ 2 The trial court summarized the history underlying the instant appeal as follows:

On September 6, 2002, [Mother] filed a Complaint for Child Support. This Complaint was filed with regards to one minor child, [A.D.], born on July 23, 2002. Various conferences were held and interrogatories were served and answered by each party. A de novo hearing was held before this Court on April 28, 2003[,] to determine the amount of support [Father] would pay to [Mother] for their child. After consideration of [Father’s] vocation and education, as well as [Mother’s] income, this Court found that [Father] had a net monthly income of $1,379.37 and, in the best interest of the child, ordered [Father] to pay $300.00 in monthly support.
The thrust of this dispute is [Father’s] earning capacity for child support calculations. Testimony indicated that [Father] has been managing Whitney Farms for his father since 1993. [Father] based his 2002 income on that in which [sic] he gained while working at this position. [Mother] disputes this income and contends [Father’s] earning capacity is much higher based on his educational background. [Mother] argues that because [Father] received his Bachelor of Arts in Agricultural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, his income should be based on what.the average annual salary of an Agricultural Engineer working in Erie, Pennsylvania is, rather than the amount [Father] claims. [Mother] gets her figure for what the average annual income of an Agricultural Engineer is from a website: Pennsylvaniajobs.com. •
While [Father] has obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Agricultural Engineering, he has never worked as an Agricultural Engineer. He once held a position as a planning technician in York, Pennsylvania before 1993, making $10.00 an hour. However, [Father] testified there are no jobs in this specific field in the Erie area. Since his time at that position in York, [Father] testified he has been managing Whitney Farms for his father. [Father] has been in this position for essentially a decade and, therefore, based his income for support purposes on the amount of money he made managing Whitney Farms. In 2002, the year [on] which he based his income ... for the present case, [Father] states the farm suffered losses [due] to a hard freeze in May. [Father] also testified that he cannot just walk away from the family business because it will not survive financially. [Father] stated he has many outstanding contractual obligations which he must satisfy. Subsequently, his net monthly income for 2002 was $941.48 per month. [Mother] feels that [Father’s] net monthly income is $3,455.93, based on the figure of $57,932.00, which is the average annual salary of an Agricultural Engineer. Due to this dispute, the parties were present at a hearing before this Court.

Trial Court Opinion, 6/26/03, at 1-2. After the hearing, the trial court entered an Order requiring Father to pay $300.00 per month in support. Thereafter, Mother filed the instant appeal.

[1269]*1269¶ 3 Mother presents the following claim for our review:

Did the lower court err in determining [Father’s] child support obligation based on his earnings as a farmer when he has a degree in agricultural engineering with a greater earning capacity, when he made no attempt to find a job in the field, and when he presented no evidence that a job was not available to him in that field[?]

Brief for Appellant at 2.

¶ 4 In Christianson v. Ely, 575 Pa. 647, 838 A.2d 630 (2003), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court set forth the following standard of review in child support matters:

In our appellate review of child support matters, we use an abuse of discretion standard. A support order will not be disturbed on appeal unless the trial court failed to consider properly the requirements of the Rules of Civil Procedure Governing Actions for Support ... or abused its discretion in applying these Rules. An abuse of discretion is “not merely an error of judgment, but if in reaching a conclusion the law is overridden or misapplied, or the judgment exercised is manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill-will ... discretion is abused. This is a limited role and, absent a clear abuse of discretion, the appellate court will defer to the order of the trial court. A finding of abuse is not lightly made but only upon a showing of clear and convincing evidence.

Id. at 634 (quotations and citations omitted).

¶ 5 Mother claims that the trial court erred when it based Father’s child support obligation on his income as a farmer, rather than his earning capacity as an agricultural engineer. Mother asserts that Father has presented no credible evidence that he was unable to find work in the field of agricultural engineering, and that his earning capacity should be based upon his potential earnings as an agricultural engineer. In support of this claim, Mother directs our attention to this Court’s decisions in Kersey v. Jefferson, 791 A.2d 419 (Pa.Super.2002), and Portugal v. Portugal, 798 A.2d 246 (Pa.Super.2002).

¶ 6 In Kersey, the father/appellant sought to modify his child support obligation based on the reduction in his income when he enrolled in medical school. In addressing the appellant’s claim, this Court opined:

‘Where a party voluntarily accepts a lower paying job, there generally will be no effect on the support obligation.” Pa. R.C.P. 1910.16-2(d)(l). It is well settled that “to modify a support obligation based upon the reduced income, a petitioner must first establish that the voluntary change in employment which resulted in a reduction of income was not made for the purpose of avoiding a child support obligation and secondly, that a reduction in support is warranted based on petitioner’s efforts to mitigate any income loss.” Grimes v. Grimes, 408 Pa.Super. 158, 596 A.2d 240, 242 (1991). Effectively, Appellant “must present evidence as to why he or she voluntarily left the prior employment and also as to why the acceptance of a lower paying job was necessary.” Id. Where a party willfully fails to obtain appropriate employment, his or her income will be considered to be equal to his or her earning capacity. Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-2(d)(4). A determination of earning capacity must consider the party's age, education, training, health, work experience, earnings history, and child care responsibilities.

Id. at 423. In Kersey, this Court affirmed the trial court’s determination that, while [1270]*1270the appellant did not voluntarily reduce his income in order to avoid his child support obligation, he failed to demonstrate why the acceptance of a lower paying job was necessary.

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Bluebook (online)
844 A.2d 1267, 2004 Pa. Super. 56, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dennis-v-whitney-pasuperct-2004.