In Re the Marriage of Wells

252 P.3d 1212, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 404, 2011 WL 915769
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 17, 2011
Docket10CA0249
StatusPublished
Cited by686 cases

This text of 252 P.3d 1212 (In Re the Marriage of Wells) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals 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 Wells, 252 P.3d 1212, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 404, 2011 WL 915769 (Colo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge BOORAS.

In this post-dissolution of marriage matter between Scott Wells (husband) and Carrie Wells (wife), husband appeals from the order modifying his child support obligation for the parties' two children, and ordering him to pay extraordinary expenses under section 14-10-115(11)(a)(D), C.R.8.2010, and attorney fees. We affirm the provision of the order awarding extraordinary expenses to wife relating to the parties' teenaged son's car and awarding attorney fees based on husband's untimely disclosures. We reverse the provisions concerning child support and remand for further proceedings.

I. Child Support

Husband contends that the trial court abused its discretion by calculating child support separately for each of the parties' two children and by ordering him to pay extraordinary expenses relating to the parties' teenaged son's car.

An appellate court reviews child support orders for abuse of discretion. In re Marriage of Atencio, 47 P.3d 718, 720 (Colo.App.2002). We review de novo, however, whether the trial court applied the correct legal standard when calculating child support. See id.

A. - Multiple Child Support Workshects

In the case of a shared parenting time arrangement, the basic child support obligation is apportioned according to the number of overnight visits exercised by each parent. See § 14-10-115(8)(b), C.R.S.2010 ("Each parent's share of the adjusted basic child support obligation shall then be multiplied by the percentage of time the children spend with the other parent ...."); see also In re Marriage of Emerson, 77 P.3d 923, 926 (Colo.App.2003); In re Marriage of Quam, 813 P.2d 833, 885 (Colo.App.1991).

The statute does not explicitly address, however, a parenting time arrangement that involves different overnight visits for different children in the same family. See Quam, 813 P.2d at 835. In that situation, child support should be calculated according to the formula set forth in Quam, where the father had a different schedule of overnight visits with each of the parties' three children. See id. The division held that when calculating child support

*1214 the amount of the father's overnight visitation should be apportioned so that father is not credited with a full overnight when he actually has less than all three children overnight. Instead, the father should be credited for one-third of an overnight each time he has one of the children with him.... [Wle believe that this approach best achieves the legislative intent of apportioning the child support obligation in proportion to the amount of time spent by the children in each parent's custody.

Id.

Pursuant to Quam, child support would be calculated for a parent, like husband here, who had overnight visits with only one of two children by crediting the parent for one-half of an overnight for each visit with the one child.

Child support, as calculated pursuant to the guidelines and schedule in section 14-10-115(7), C.R.S.2010, establishes a rebuttable presumption of the amount owed. § 14-10-115(8)(e), C.R.S.2010; Combs v. Tibbitts, 148 P.3d 430, 434 (Colo.App.2006). A court may deviate from the guidelines and schedule if its application would be inequitable, unjust, or inappropriate, but such deviation must be accompanied by findings specifying the reasons for deviation. § 14-10-115(8)(e), see also Combs, 148 P.3d at 434.

Here, the trial court ordered that, "given the different circumstances of the children," the court would deviate from the guidelines by using a multiple worksheet method to calculate support. The court then added the amounts from the two worksheets together and deviated again downward from that amount. The court made no findings, however, as to the reason for the downward deviation.

We agree with husband that by beginning the calculation using two worksheets, the court inappropriately treated the children, for child support purposes, as if each was an only child. That approach is contrary to the guidelines and schedule, which provide for incremental increases in support for each additional child in a family. See § 14-10-115(7)(b), C.R.S.2010; see also In re Marriage of Blanford, 937 N.E.2d 356, 361 (Ind.Ct.App.2010) (holding that when parent had overnight visits with only one of two children, use of separate worksheets treated each child as an only child under the guidelines and resulted in an inflated child support obligation); Soulsby v. Soulsby, 222 W.Va. 236, 664 S.E.2d 121, 131 (2008) ("[T}he incremental increase apparent in the statutory guidelines cannot be incorporated when each child's support obligation is calculated under a different worksheet.").

We further agree with husband that to the extent the trial court intended to deviate from the guidelines and schedule pursuant to section 14-10-115(8)(e), the court did not enter sufficient findings in support. Although the court indicated that it would split the difference between the amount resulting from two worksheets and the amount resulting from one worksheet, the court did not explain why it was appropriate to calculate support in that manner, nor did the court address the calculation method from Quam. Accordingly, on remand the trial court should recalculate child support using one worksheet and crediting husband's overnight visits according to the formula set forth in Quam. If the court then finds that the resulting child support amount is inequitable, unjust, or inappropriate, it should enter findings explaining its reasons for deviation.

We are not persuaded otherwise by wife's unsupported contention that it is "the general practice of the [clourt system" to use multiple child support worksheets when there are multiple children in a family. See § 14-10-115(7)(b) (providing instead for incrementally increasing child support amounts for each additional child in the same family). We also reject wife's argument that the provisions of section 14-10-115@8)(c)(I), C.R.S. 2010, concerning split physical care, sanction the trial court's multiple worksheet method. This provision applies to the situation where primary residential care of multiple children is split between the parents, and not to the situation here where wife has primary care of both children but only one child has overnight visits with husband. See Quam, 813 P.2d at 885 (contrasting split visitation with split custody ); see also Soulsby, 664 S.E.2d at 131 (clarifying that, where the mother has primary care of both children but only one *1215 child has overnight visits with the father, statutory provisions addressing split physical care do not govern). We conclude that in this situation, child support should be caleu-lated according to the formula set forth in Quam unless sufficient findings are made to justify deviating from that formula.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
252 P.3d 1212, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 404, 2011 WL 915769, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-wells-coloctapp-2011.