Matthews v. Matthews

34 Pa. D. & C.5th 415
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedNovember 25, 2013
DocketNo. 02116700
StatusPublished

This text of 34 Pa. D. & C.5th 415 (Matthews v. Matthews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matthews v. Matthews, 34 Pa. D. & C.5th 415 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2013).

Opinion

ULLMAN, J.,

A. Procedural Background

[417]*417On November 8, 2012, defendant filed a petition for modification of an existing support order for these two children. Defendant was paying $2,310.00 a month for child support and sought to reduce this order.

A hearing was held on May 15, 2013 before a Berks County Support Master (the “hearing officer” in the support rules is referred to as a “support master” in Berks county parlance). The support master filed his report on June 11, 2013, and plaintiff filed timely exceptions on July 1, 2013. After a transcript was produced, support argument was set for September 16, 2013. At the request of defendant’s counsel, support argument was continued to October 15, 2013. Both sides filed argument briefs. Both side appeared at argument with counsel.

B. Legal Background

1. Calculating Support Income for a Sole Proprietor

The Superior Court has held that when calculating net income for support purposes, a trial court must first calculate real gross income; second, calculate monthly gross income per Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-2(a); and, third, calculate monthly net income per Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-2(c)(1). Berry v. Berry, 898 A.2d 1100, 1107 (Pa. Super. 2006). In determining monthly gross income, net income from a business is included; thus, unreimbursed business expenses may be deducted in determining monthly gross income but only where the court finds them to be bona fide expenses under support law. Id. In Berry, the Superior Court held that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing business deductions from the obligor’s gross income merely based upon “father’s expert’s bald conclusions that the deductions were appropriate.” Id.

All benefits flowing from corporate ownership must be considered in determining income available to calculate a [418]*418support obligation. Fennel v. Fennel, 753 A.2d 866, 868 (Pa. Super. 2000). The actual disposable income of the parties counts “not the oft-time fictional picture” created by the application of federal tax laws. Id. (quoting Labar v. Labar, 731 A.2d 1252, 1255 (Pa. Super. 1999). The Superior Court has stated, “[w]e have held repeatedly that deductions or losses reflected on corporate books or individual tax returns are irrelevant to the calculation of available income unless they reflect an actual reduction in available cash.” Id.

The Superior Court has stated, “[w]hen a defendant operates a business of his own, it is frequently difficult to determine his actual income. The court need not accept as accurate the testimony of the defendant or the financial record of his accountant made from information furnished by the defendant. It could make its own deductions from the evidence and the accompanying circumstances.” Smith v. Smith, 426 A.2d 1184, 1187 (Pa. Super. 1981).

As demonstrated in these cases, when a defendant operates his or her own business, a defendant should come to a contested child support hearing prepared to justify with evidence deductions from gross income to a much lower net income for support purposes beyond a mere federal income tax return. Expenses, credits, exemptions, and deductions which apply to reduce gross federal income tax under federal tax laws do not necessarily apply under support law.

2. This Case

A party’s burden to justify a reduction in one’s income may appear cumbersome in the high volume support hearing model, but the law is that the deductions must be demonstrated to be bone fide before a court is to allow them and reduce support income, and, thus, child support. [419]*419In our case, defendant owned his own business, employed three employees, and owned five total properties yet demonstrated virtually no knowledge of his own costs and expenses. A business owner is in the best position to prove his own business income, and the burden is on the defendant to provide enough information about his business expenses for a court to determine their validity and application under support law.

C. Trial Court Decision and Weight of Master’s Recommendation

The Superior Court has held that a support master’s recommendation is “only advisory and not in any way binding on the trial court.” Ewing v. Ewing, 843 A.2d 1282, 1286 (Pa.Super. 2004) quoting Goodman v. Goodman, 544 A.2d 1033, 1035 (1988). Additionally, “it is the ‘sole province and the responsibility of the court to set an award of support’ and even if the evidence before the Support Hearing Officer is adequate to support her recommendation, the trial court need not adopt it.” Id.

At argument and in his brief, defendant argued the wrong legal standard of trial court review of a master’s recommendation.

D. DISCUSSION

1. Mortgage Deduction from Support Income

Under the PA support rules, a party does not deduct mortgage payments from one’s income for support purposes. Pa. R.C.P. 1910.16-2(c). Obviously, an obligor cannot reduce the duty he owes to his children by choosing to buy a vacation home, or additional properties, and then reducing his income by these mortgage obligations. However, where a defendant’s income is his business income, then proven business expenses that actually reduce [420]*420a defendant’s income may reduce his support income; and these expenses could include rent or mortgage payments on a building utilized for the party’s business.1

In our case, defendant owns five properties including his home and a vacation/beach house in New Jersey. Plaintiff filed exceptions to defendant’s subtracting his mortgage payments from his support income, defendant listed mortgage payments on his taxes under his business expenses. However, on testimony, defendant testified that these payments were made on his New Jersey beach house. Similar to his testimony in general, defendant’s testimony regarding his mortgage deductions was not consistent. At one point, he claimed to have a mortgage on another property as well. However, under prompting from his counsel, defendant basically stated that his only mortgage was on his beach home with the caveat that he used that personal property as collateral to purchase one of his business properties, so he classified his vacation home loan as a business loan. This court agrees with plaintiff that how defendant’s accountant classified the mortgage payments on defendant’s tax return combined with defendant’s vague assertion that it is tangentially linked to business is not enough to justify deducting defendant’s payments on his New Jersey vacation house mortgage from his support income. Only bone fide business expenses directly tied to the business’s operation and income would qualify to reduce support income, and those facts were not established here.

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Related

Fennell v. Fennell
753 A.2d 866 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)
Berry v. Berry
898 A.2d 1100 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
Goodman v. Goodman
544 A.2d 1033 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Labar v. Labar
731 A.2d 1252 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Ewing v. Ewing
843 A.2d 1282 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2004)
Smith v. Smith
426 A.2d 1184 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
34 Pa. D. & C.5th 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-matthews-pactcomplberks-2013.