In the Matter of Marriage of Perlenfein and Perlenfein

848 P.2d 604, 316 Or. 16, 1993 Ore. LEXIS 41
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 8, 1993
DocketCC CV91-0251; CA A70807; SC S39607
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 848 P.2d 604 (In the Matter of Marriage of Perlenfein and Perlenfein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of Marriage of Perlenfein and Perlenfein, 848 P.2d 604, 316 Or. 16, 1993 Ore. LEXIS 41 (Or. 1993).

Opinion

*18 GRABER, J.

The question in this domestic relations case is whether, under the applicable Oregon regulations, set out below, undistributed income of a closely held corporation that is attributed to a minority shareholder of that corporation for income tax purposes also is attributable to the shareholder for the purpose of determining a child support obligation. We answer that question “yes.”

Husband is the manager and a minority shareholder of Albany Rental, Inc., a closely held corporation. He receives a salary of $2,000 per month from the corporation and owns 27.5 percent of its shares. His mother owns 45.5 percent of the corporation’s shares, and his brothers own, respectively, 25 percent and 2 percent. Because Albany Rental is a Sub-chapter S corporation, its profits are treated, for federal income tax purposes, as income of the shareholders, in proportions equal to the shareholders’ ownership interests. The shareholders also receive credit against that income for Albany Rental’s accelerated depreciation. 26 USC § 1366. To enable the shareholders to meet the federal income tax liability arising from their joint ownership of Albany Rental, the corporation distributes to the shareholders yearly dividends in amounts sufficient to pay the taxes owed. All other profits of the corporation are retained by the corporation for reinvestment.

Wife is the sole proprietor of an incorporated accounting business. She receives a salary of $2,000 per month from that corporation. All other profits are retained by the corporation.

The parties divorced in 1988. They have two minor children. At the time the marriage was dissolved, wife was awarded custody of the children and husband was ordered to pay $250 per month in child support. In 1991, wife moved for modification of husband’s child support obligation, contending that his share of Albany Rental’s profits and accelerated depreciation credits, in the amount of $4,792 per month, should be included in the calculation of his gross income for the purpose of determining his current child support obligation. 1

*19 The trial court found that husband did not actually receive any income from Albany Rental except for his salary and that his status as a minority shareholder deprived him of the authority to alter that circumstance. The court concluded, however, that Albany Rental’s business decision to reinvest its profits did not foreclose the court from considering a portion of husband’s share of the corporation’s profits and accelerated depreciation credits as part of his gross income for the purpose of determining his child support obligation. The court attributed to husband an additional $2,000 per month in gross income from those sources, for a total of $4,000 per month. The court also attributed to wife the retained profits of her accounting business. Calculating from those amounts, the court determined husband’s child support obligation to be $778 per month.

Husband appealed, and wife cross-appealed. The Court of Appeals held that, “[b]efore income can be attributed to a parent for purposes of determining child support, * * * there must be some right to receive or ability to control the distribution of the income.” Perlenfein and Perlenfein, 114 Or App 588, 591-92, 836 P2d 171 (1992). The court held that, as a result, husband’s share of the undistributed profits of the corporation should not have been included in his gross income for the purpose of determining his child support obligation. Id. at 592. The court held, however, that the trial court properly included the profits from wife’s business in her gross income, because “wife is the sole shareholder of her corporation and has complete control over its earnings.” Ibid. The court remanded the case for recalculation of husband’s child support obligation. Id. at 593.

Wife petitioned for review, asserting that neither the trial court nor the Court of Appeals had complied with the applicable regulations in calculating husband’s gross income. 2 *20 We granted review to answer the question of law raised by the petition. 3

In interpreting a statute or regulation, our task is to ascertain the intent of the body that promulgated it. ORS 174.020; State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Ashley, 312 Or 169, 174, 818 P2d 1270 (1991). See also Columbia Steel Castings Co. v. City of Portland, 314 Or 424, 430, 840 P2d 71 (1992) (principles of statutory construction may also be applied to “discrete sets of administrative rules that deal with a particular topic”). We begin with the text and context of the statute or regulation. ORS 174.010; Bartz v. State of Oregon, 314 Or 353, 357, 839 P2d 217 (1992). When a general and a particular provision on the same subject are inconsistent, this court applies the particular provision. ORS 174.020; see also Mercy Health Promotion, Inc. v. Dept. of Rev., 310 Or 123, 130, 795 P2d 1082 (1990) (where one statute addressed a “very broad class” of situations and another addressed the “precise” situation at issue in that case, court applied the more specific statute).

ORS 25.275(1), which authorizes the promulgation of regulations pertaining to child support, provides in part:

“The Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Justice shall establish by rule a formula for determining child support awards in any judicial or administrative proceeding.”

The statute then lists the criteria that the division shall take into consideration in establishing the formula. 4

*21 In response to that statutory mandate, the Support Enforcement Division promulgated OAR, 137-50-320 et seq, 5 which provides in part:

“OAR 137-50-320 to 137-50-490 constitute the formula for determining child support awards as required by ORS 25.275. For purposes of OAR 137-50-320 to 137-50-490, unless the context requires otherwise:
it# % * * 5j:
“(3) ‘Gross income’ means:
“ (a) The gross income of the parent calculated pursuant to OAR 137-50-340 and 137-50-350.”

OAR 137-50-330 provides in part:

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Bluebook (online)
848 P.2d 604, 316 Or. 16, 1993 Ore. LEXIS 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-matter-of-marriage-of-perlenfein-and-perlenfein-or-1993.