Koszegi v. Erickson

2004 ME 113, 855 A.2d 1168, 2004 Me. LEXIS 134
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedAugust 31, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2004 ME 113 (Koszegi v. Erickson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koszegi v. Erickson, 2004 ME 113, 855 A.2d 1168, 2004 Me. LEXIS 134 (Me. 2004).

Opinion

ALEXANDER, J.

[¶ 1] Donald A. Erickson Jr. appeals from post-judgment orders entered by the District Court (Caribou, Griffiths, A.R.J.), which (1) modified primary residence of a minor child from Donald Erickson to the mother, Barbara (Erickson) Koszegi; (2) altered- the parties’ child support obligations; (3) ordered Koszegi to pay back child support and Erickson to pay back spousal support; and (4) denied each par[1170]*1170ty’s motion for contempt. Erickson contends that the trial court erred in computing the gross income of both parties, in failing to find Koszegi in contempt of the prior child support order, and in setting his combined spousal and child support obligation at more than fifty percent of his disposable military retirement pay. Kosz-egi requests that we impose sanctions pursuant to M.R.App. P. 13(f) because Erickson makes unsubstantiated allegations of bias against the trial court.

[¶ 2] The only issues which merit discussion relate to the combined child support and spousal support obligations, and the District Court did not err in its address of those matters. Accordingly, we affirm.

I. CASE HISTORY

[¶ 3] The parties lived in Maine prior to the 2002 divorce, but now the parties and their children live in other states. The parties elected to file their respective petitions to modify and for contempt in Maine, and both traveled to Maine for the hearing. Maine retains continuing subject matter jurisdiction over the matter. See 19-A M.R.S.A. § 1746 (Supp.2003).

[¶ 4] In the 2002 divorce, Erickson was ordered to pay $400 per month in spousal support for a period of ninety-six months. By agreement, Erickson had primary physical custody of the parties’ older son, and Koszegi, of the younger son. The respective child support calculations netted out to Erickson paying Koszegi $47 per week. This arrangement lasted until March 2002, when the younger son moved to live with Erickson. The parties executed a joint motion to modify and stipulation dated March 29, 2002, reflecting the younger son’s change of residence. Modification of child support was not addressed in the papers filed with the court at that time. The court (Daigle, J.) declined to address the motion to modify unless child support was addressed.

[¶ 5] In July 2002, pursuant to the request of the trial court, Erickson filed a child support worksheet and proposed orders to modify the divorce judgment and for child support. Those papers indicated that Koszegi’s gross income included $3200 in spousal support paid to her by Erickson. The court (Daigle, J.) signed the proposed orders on July 11, 2002, requiring Koszegi to pay $121 per week in child support. Koszegi was not represented by counsel at that time. She asserts that she never received copies of those orders, and remained unaware of her child support obligation until the current dispute arose. The younger son returned to live with Koszegi in August 2003. Koszegi did not pay any child support for the period of time that both children were living with Erickson.

[¶ 6] Erickson voluntarily retired from the Air Force in July 2003. He missed two monthly spousal support payments immediately after the divorce, and one around the time of his retirement.

[¶ 7] Erickson filed a motion for contempt related to unpaid child support in February 2003. Koszegi filed a motion for contempt related to the unpaid spousal support in March 2003. Koszegi also filed a motion to modify in April 2003, seeking to modify her child support obligation, and a motion to modify in September 2003, seeking to formally change the younger son’s residence and establish child support. The four motions were heard together in November 2003, after which the court (Griffiths, A.R.J.) issued orders resolving the issues.

[¶ 8] The first order formally changed the younger son’s primary residence to Koszegi, and required Erickson to pay Koszegi $119.40 per week in child support. The court found Erickson to be voluntarily [1171]*1171underemployed, and imputed earning capacity to him at the $40,000 per year level he was earning while employed with the Air Force.

[¶ 9] In the second order, on Erickson’s motion for contempt and enforcement of support and Koszegi’s motion to modify, the trial court recalculated Koszegi’s child support obligation for the period of time that the younger son lived with Erickson, excluding spousal support from her gross income pursuant to 19-A M.R.S.A. § 2001(5)(E) (Supp.2003). The court determined that Koszegi owed Erickson $110.76 per week for the period from April 4, 2002, to June 1, 2003, (when the older son graduated from high school), and $76.83 per week for the period from June 7, 2003, to August 29, 2003, for a total arrearage of $7644.39. The trial court did not hold Koszegi in contempt because it found that she was unaware that the July 2002 child support order had issued.

[¶ 10] In the third order, on Koszegi’s motion for contempt, the trial court found that Erickson owed Koszegi $1200 in spousal support, and offset this amount against Koszegi’s child support arrearage. The court declined to find Erickson in contempt.

[¶ 11] The trial court further found that Erickson owed child support for the period from August to November 2003, and offset that amount against Koszegi’s arrearage, leaving a balance owed to Erickson of $5250.39, to be paid off in weekly installments of $50.

[¶ 12] Erickson then brought this appeal.

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS

A. Imputed Earning Capacity

[¶ 13] The trial court found that Erickson was voluntarily underemployed and imputed earning capacity to him to make his total gross annual income $40,000. This was his reported income at the time of the divorce and the income Erickson had indicated on the child support worksheet that he had filed in July 2002. Erickson contends this finding is error because the documentation he provided at the hearing indicated that his income for 2003 was $28,968.98, and for 2002, was $36,000. The court’s finding was based on evidence that Erickson, although retired and receiving a military pension, was only forty years old at the time of the hearing, had no apparent limitation on his work capacity, and had voluntarily chosen not to seek employment.

[¶ 14] It is within the trial court’s discretion to impute earning capacity to a parent who the court finds is voluntarily underemployed. 19-A M.R.S.A. § 2001(5)(D) (1998). Section 2001(5)(D) authorizes gross income to “include the difference between the amount a party is earning and that party’s earning capacity when the party voluntarily becomes or remains unemployed or underemployed, if sufficient evidence is introduced concerning a party’s current earning capacity.” Id.; see also Wrenn v. Lewis, 2003 ME 29, ¶ 17, 818 A.2d 1005, 1010 (affirming finding that father who had “mistakenly failed to identify his responsibility for child support and alimony as more important than his personal preferences” was underemployed). The trial court’s finding of Erickson’s earning capacity is supported by sufficient evidence.

B. Consideration of Spousal Support in Child Support Calculations

[¶ 15] Koszegi’s child support payment for the period from March 2002 to August 2003, had been determined based on a gross income figure that included $3200 of spousal support paid to Koszegi by Erickson.

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Bluebook (online)
2004 ME 113, 855 A.2d 1168, 2004 Me. LEXIS 134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koszegi-v-erickson-me-2004.