In re the Marriage of VanBuren

102 P.3d 486, 33 Kan. App. 2d 178, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 1213
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedSeptember 17, 2004
DocketNo. 90,787
StatusPublished

This text of 102 P.3d 486 (In re the Marriage of VanBuren) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Marriage of VanBuren, 102 P.3d 486, 33 Kan. App. 2d 178, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 1213 (kanctapp 2004).

Opinion

Johnson, J.:

The Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS), on behalf of Shirley K. VanBuren (now Nyborg), appeals the district court’s granting of a motion to terminate child support on May 31, following the child’s graduation from high school. SRS contends that K.S.A. 2003 Supp. 60-1610(a)(l)(B) requires the support payments to continue to June 30 and that the district court’s reliance on In re Marriage of Sell, 31 Kan. App. 2d 164, 61 P.3d 739 (2003), was erroneous because the Sell court was wrong. We find Sell to be correct but distinguishable and find the plain statutory language gave the district court authority to terminate child support prior to June 30. However, we remand to permit the district court the opportunity to exercise its discretion as to whether to grant or deny the motion to terminate child support.

Not surprisingly, the father has chosen not to file a brief to contest the additional 1 month’s support which SRS seeks. Nevertheless, we perceive no factual disputes. Shirley and Terry Lynn VanBuren, Jr. (father) were divorced in 1988, and father was initially ordered to pay $210 per month in child support. In 1991, the support was reduced, and then in 2001, support was increased, ultimately to $330 per month.

On April 22, 2003, father filed a motion for the termination of his child support obligation effective May 31, 2003. The motion alleged that the child had attained the age of 18 years and would graduate from high school by the end of May. Father’s counsel argued the motion before the district court on May 2; SRS, as Shirley’s assignee, appeared by counsel and objected to the motion, principally relying on the arguments that Sell is distinguishable because it involved a parental agreement and that the statutes contemplate that a school year ends on June 30. The district court granted the motion based upon its belief that the Sell decision was controlling.

[180]*180Appellant presents its issue as follows: “Pursuant to K.S.A 60-1610(a)(1)(B), does a child support obligation end in the month of high school graduation or does it continue to June 30, the end of the school year?” SRS then suggests that we have de novo review because the issue presented involves statutory construction. We agree. The case before us can be decided by reading the applicable statute, and statutory construction is a legal question allowing unlimited review. Further, “[a]n appellate court is not bound by the district court’s interpretation of a statute.” State v. Maass, 275 Kan. 328, 330, 64 P.3d 382 (2003).

K.S.A. 2003 Supp. 60-1610(a) is subtitled “Minor children” and subsection (1) is labeled “Child support and education.” The statute authorizes the court to

“order the child support and education expenses to be paid by either or both parents for any child less than 18 years of age, at which age the support shall terminate unless: (A) The parent or parents agree, by written agreement approved by the court, to pay support beyond the time the child reaches 18 years of age; (B) the child reaches 18 years of age before completing the child’s high school education in which case the support shall not terminate automatically, unless otherwise ordered by the court, until June 30 of the school year during which the child became 18 years of age if the child is still attending high school; or (C) the child is still a bona fide high school student after June 30 of the school year during which the child became 18 years of age, in which case the court, on motion, may order support to continue through the school year during which the child becomes 19 years of age so long as the child is a bona fide high school student and the parents jointly participated or knowingly acquiesced in the decision which delayed the child’s completion of high school.” (Emphasis added.)

The interpretation of any statute begins with a reading of the words chosen by the legislature. If those words reveal legislative intent, we must not resort to public policy considerations, such as those advanced in SRS’s brief. See Williamson v. City of Hays, 275 Kan. 300, 305, 64 P.3d 364 (2003); O’Bryan v. Columbia Ins. Group, 274 Kan. 572, 575, 56 P.3d 789 (2002) (“Courts should avoid malting public policy where the statutory law has developed.”). “Ordinaiy words are to be given their ordinary meaning, and a statute should not be so read as to add that which is not readily found therein or to read out what as a matter of ordinary English language is in it. [Citation omitted.]” GT, Kansas, L.L.C. [181]*181v. Riley County Register of Deeds, 271 Kan. 311, 316, 22 P.3d 600 (2001).

K.S.A. 2003 Supp. 60-1610(a)(l) codifies the general rule that a parent’s obligation to pay child support ends when the child reaches the age of majority, i.e., 18 years old. See Brady v. Brady, 225 Kan. 485, Syl. ¶ 4, 592 P.2d 865 (1979). As with most general rules, this one is subject to exceptions: (A) the supporting parent can agree in writing to pay beyond the child’s 18th birthday; (B) tire support obligation for a child who turns age 18 during the child’s last year of high school will continue until June 30 of the year of graduation, unless tire court has ordered to the contrary; and (C) the support for a child whose high school education has been delayed by both parents’ consent or acquiescence can be court ordered to continue so long as the child is a bona fide high school student.

Sell principally involved the first exception, a written agreement of the parents. There, the child turned age 18 on August 29, 2000, with 1 year of high school remaining because of a joint decision of the parents. While the child was still a minor, in July 1999, the parents agreed and the court ordered that father’s child support obligation “ ‘shall automatically continue through the school year after tire minor child has attained the age of 18 on the condition that the child is a bonafide high school student.’ ” 31 Kan. App. 2d at 164. The agreement further provided that the father was entided to verify the child’s regular school attendance in the school year following the child’s 18th birthday to confirm the child’s status as a bona fide student. The dispute, raised in a motion by the father, was whether the agreed-upon court order required father to pay child support for June 2001, given that the child graduated May 29, 2001.

Resolution of the dispute in Sell required an interpretation of the parents’ agreement and the court’s order. K.S.A. 2003 Supp. 60-1610(a)(l)(B) came into play as an aid in interpreting the agreed-upon court order.

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Related

Brady v. Brady
592 P.2d 865 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1979)
State v. Maass
64 P.3d 382 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2003)
Williamson v. City of Hays
64 P.3d 364 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2003)
Drake v. Kansas Department of Revenue
32 P.3d 705 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2001)
GT, Kansas, L.L.C. v. Riley County Register of Deeds
22 P.3d 600 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2001)
O'Bryan v. Columbia Insurance Group
56 P.3d 789 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2002)
In Re the Marriage of Sell
61 P.3d 739 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
102 P.3d 486, 33 Kan. App. 2d 178, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 1213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-vanburen-kanctapp-2004.