Marriage of Charlebois CA4/1

California Court of Appeal·Decided April 29, 2014·No. D064246·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 4/29/14 Marriage of Charlebois CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

In re the Marriage of DIANE and ERIC CHARLEBOIS.

D064246

DIANE CHARLEBOIS,

Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. ED77080)

v.

ERIC CHARLEBOIS, Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Steven E.

Stone, Judge. Affirmed.

Dawn M. Dell'Acqua for Appellant.

Patrick L. McCrary and Larry Dale Kincaid for Respondent.

Eric Charlebois (Father) appeals from an order modifying his spousal and child support obligations with his former spouse, Diane Charlebois (Mother). He argues the

court erred in imputing $6,500 in monthly income to him after his business failed. We conclude the court did not abuse its discretion and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Mother and Father were married in March 1995. They have two minor sons, one born in 1998 and one born in 2003. During the marriage, Mother and Father acquired several properties, including two residences in Ramona. In 2007, one of the residences was destroyed in the "Witch Creek" fire. In February 2009, the couple separated.

Ten months later, in December 2009, the court entered a dissolution judgment based on the parties' marital settlement agreement. In the settlement agreement, the parties agreed to a division of their real and personal property. The parties also agreed to joint legal and physical custody (50/50) of their minor children in a "week-on-week-off" arrangement. The agreement established child support based on the following facts: (1) Father's gross monthly income of $7,125; (2) zero income for Mother until May 2010 when her income would be imputed at minimum wage for a total of $1,425 per month; and (3) each party filing head of household plus two dependents and a 50 percent timeshare for each party. Based on these figures, Father was ordered to pay $1,865 in monthly child support until May 2010, when the payments would decrease to $1,275. The agreement also established monthly spousal support at $775 until May 2010 when the payments would increase to $963.

About two years later, in March 2012, Father moved to modify the orders. Father sought a downward adjustment of spousal and child support based on the recent closure of his used car dealership business. He said: "I am currently unemployed and have

applied for unemployment. I will be looking to get retrained in another field." While the motion was pending, in July 2012, Father filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, seeking to discharge his personal and business debts.

In opposing Father's modification request, Mother argued that Father did not meet his burden to show changed circumstances, including a lack of ability and opportunity to earn the same income. Mother claimed that Father voluntarily closed his business to avoid paying support payments and had not made any attempts to obtain new employment or otherwise earn income.

A hearing on the support issues was held on February 27, 2013 and March 6, 2013.1 At the outset, Father's attorney agreed that Father had the burden of proof at the hearing. During the hearing, Father testified he had previously worked at his father's used car business in sales and financing for 22 years. His earnings were commission- based and during the later years reached $80,000 to $90,000 per year. In late 2007, Father purchased his father's business for about $250,000, and thereafter paid himself about $7,000 per month in his new business. He also began a related business (Group One Auto Finance, LLC) that would finance customer purchases, but he earned only a minimal amount from this business.

In about January 2012, Father determined that he needed to close his used car business because of declining sales, credit line problems and increasing debts. He

1 The court had previously held a hearing on issues raised in Father's motion that are not directly relevant here. Because the appellate record does not include the earlier hearing, we do not discuss these matters in this opinion.

terminated the business at the end of February 2012. Several months later, he filed for personal bankruptcy, and identified about $2.4 million in debt. Many of those debts were (or will be) discharged in bankruptcy.

Father testified that shortly after he closed his business he began "putting feelers out" regarding jobs. However, he did not actively begin looking for work until about six months later (in September 2012) because he was busy winding down his business and responding to a state franchise board audit. Father said he filed online applications for unspecified automobile sales positions, but when asked for proof, he admitted he did not bring any supporting documentation to court. Father said most new car dealerships require a college degree for a sales position, which he does not have. Father said he ultimately decided not to pursue an automobile-related job because he believed he was either overqualified or underqualified to work in the automobile industry.

Father said he instead decided to pursue real estate and obtained his real estate license in or about February 2013. Regarding his job search in the real estate field, Father said he "contacted [a] broker friend of mine and contacted . . . another friend of ours who works for Diamond Resorts [a time share organization]. She verbally offered me a job pending HR approval." Father said he is still waiting to hear whether he will be offered the job. He said that Diamond Resorts pays minimum wage of $8 per hour and "[t]here is commission built up over time," but he did not know the commission structure. Father said he also contacted one or two other real estate brokerage entities, but they pay only commission and therefore he did not want to pursue those jobs.

Father testified his current income is $450 per week from unemployment insurance, plus $216 per month from his Group One finance business. His current monthly expenses are $5,240. Father's fiancée lives with him, and she helps him pay the bills and the mortgage. He also testified about various properties he owns, all of which he said are encumbered by deeds of trust that are more than the property is worth.

At the end of Father's testimony, the court offered preliminary comments to assist the parties in presenting the remaining portions of the case. Of relevance here, the court stated that based on Father's testimony, it appeared Father "can make a lot more money than he's currently making, and that he might be unwilling, at this time, to be making the amount that he can make." Based on that view, the court said it was inclined to impute income to Father: "I'll note that one thing he did, he did pay himself $7,000 per month at his old job. And I'm not saying that's the number I would choose, but it's a number up to that number in terms of the amount that I might impute to him. Could be more; could be less. It depends upon the argument and additional testimony."

Mother then testified. Mother is 41 years old and left school during ninth grade.

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