In Re Marriage of Rundle

438 N.E.2d 229, 107 Ill. App. 3d 880, 63 Ill. Dec. 491, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 2072
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 14, 1982
Docket81-306
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 438 N.E.2d 229 (In Re Marriage of Rundle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Marriage of Rundle, 438 N.E.2d 229, 107 Ill. App. 3d 880, 63 Ill. Dec. 491, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 2072 (Ill. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

JUSTICE JONES

delivered the opinion of the court:

Petitioner, Mary Susan Rundle, appeals the judgment of the trial court, which dissolves the marriage of the parties, awards custody of the minor child to petitioner, requires respondent, Ronnie Ray Rundle, to pay $50 per week child support, disposes of the property of the parties, denies maintenance to either party and requires each party to pay his or her own attorney fees. Petitioner raises several issues, among them the correctness of the trial court’s reliance upon a chart or schedule in making the award of child support and his failure to hear evidence as to her living expenses. Petitioner also questions the denial of her requests for maintenance and attorney fees as well as the trial court’s finding that a mobile home together with approximately 3M acres upon which it is located is nonmarital property owned by respondent.

Petitioner maintains that the use of a chart or schedule to fix an award of child support, without the aid of evidence of her living expenses, violated section 505(a) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 40, par. 505(a)) (hereinafter the Act), which provides that the court may order payment of child support “after considering all relevant factors, including:

(1) the financial resources of the child;

(2) the financial resources and needs of the custodial parent;

(3) the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved;

(4) the physical and emotional condition of the child, and his educational needs; and

(5) the financial resources and needs of the noncustodial parent or parents.”

At the hearing on the property disposition the following exchange took place between petitioner’s attorney and the trial court:

“MR. GINOS [attorney for petitioner]: Your Honor, if I may ask you. You indicated earlier that the Court felt that $50.00 a week was, I don’t know if it was a rule of thumb or a decision in this case?

THE COURT: It’s like basically a rule of thumb, however at that time I thought they said $250.00 [as respondent’s earnings] a week.

MR. GINOS: Yes, sir, and I have not put any evidence on as to the monthly expenses of my client.

THE COURT: That is a hard rule of thumb. I have got a schedule I use and try to be consistent in all cases and it is just purely based on that income, it works out, came out to the same, within that range of $50.00 per week.”

Later the following colloquy was hád between Mr. Ginos and the court:

“MR. GINOS: Your Honor, I would, I believe I would like to have Mrs. Rundle testify to her expenses unless the Court feels that based on what your chart, however, and based on his income that her expenses really don’t make any difference?

THE COURT: I don’t want to preclude you from putting on, generally it would fall within a range based upon his income as far as child support is concerned. If there are any extraordinary expenses I would certainly want you to put that on.

MR. GINOS: Nothing other than ordinary living expenses and babysitter costs and that sort of thing, Your Honor.”

No evidence of petitioner’s living expenses was introduced. She contends that any attempt by her to put on such evidence in the face of the trial court’s expression of reliance upon a schedule would have been fruitless. In evidence was the amount of petitioner’s weekly income, $80, gleaned from mowing lawns and cleaning houses. Also in evidence was the amount of respondent’s net weekly income, about $265 or $270. However, no evidence of his expenses was introduced.

Respondent has included in his brief as “Exhibit X” a copy of a detailed, two-page chart or schedule labeled “Family Support Chart.” The chart includes the net income of the noncustodial parent and the number of children to be supported. Above one of the seven columns of the chart are the words, “Net Income for Week.” In that column the first figures listed are “$80-90” and the last are “591-600.” Fifty such salary ranges are listed between the first and last figures. Above the other six columns are the words “One” through “Six” respectively, referring to the number of children involved. At the top of the chart is what appears to be the means of defining net income for purposes of the chart; however, the copy is not a good one, and only some words such as “Income Tax,” “F.I.C.A.,” “Life Insurance” and “Union Dues” are adequately legible. In each of these columns on each line corresponding to salary appears a dollar figure.

Although our research has not disclosed any cases dealing with the use of a chart or schedule to determine an award of child support, we find the reasoning helpful in the cases of In re Marriage of Brophy (1981), 96 Ill. App. 3d 1108, 421 N.E.2d 1308, and In re Marriage of Cooper (1981), 102 Ill. App. 3d 872,430 N.E.2d 379, where in each case the award of child support was based upon a certain percentage of the noncustodial parent’s income. In Brophy the trial court had considered only the noncustodial parent’s spendable income, ordering a certain percentage of that amount to be paid as child support. To consider only the father’s income and to ignore the statutory language setting forth the factors to be considered in awarding child support was found on review to be an abuse of discretion, and the order for child support was not permitted to stand. In Cooper, although the record showed that there was before the trial court some évidence of both parties’ income and expenses, the reviewing court found the amount of the award not supported by the evidence, and because of the trial court’s reliance on the percentage formula, the judgment was reversed and the cause remanded for a new hearing.

As was said in Brophy, the amount of child support is to be determined by accommodating the needs of the child with the available means of the parents. Although the determination of the amount of child support lies within the sound discretion of the trial court, the amount of the award is to be determined by the facts and circumstances of each case. (Brophy.) While specific findings are not required, there must be some indication in the record that the trial court considered the factors listed in section 505(a). Brophy.

In Brophy there was “no indication that the court considered either the actual needs of the children or petitioner’s needs in making its determination.” (96 Ill. App. 3d 1108, 1115, 421 N.E.2d 1308, 1313.) So, too, in the case at bar there is no indication in the record that the trial court considered the needs of either the child or the custodial parent in making its determination. Indeed, there is evidence in the record that the trial court did not consider these needs.

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Bluebook (online)
438 N.E.2d 229, 107 Ill. App. 3d 880, 63 Ill. Dec. 491, 1982 Ill. App. LEXIS 2072, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-rundle-illappct-1982.