Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Pittman

20 S.W.3d 426, 70 Ark. App. 487, 2000 Ark. App. LEXIS 502
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 28, 2000
DocketCA 99-1297
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 20 S.W.3d 426 (Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Pittman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Pittman, 20 S.W.3d 426, 70 Ark. App. 487, 2000 Ark. App. LEXIS 502 (Ark. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OLLY NEAL, Judge.

Office of Child Support Enforcement has appealed from an order of the Lee County Chancery Court modifying appellee Shaun Pittman’s child-support obligation for Shamara Pittman, who was born out of wedlock to Sonya Pointer and appellee on July 30, 1996. We agree with appellant that the chancellor erred in determining appellee’s net income and the amount of child support required by the family-support chart in reference to that income. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.

In June 1997, appellee was adjudged to be Shamara’s father and was ordered to pay child support in the amount of $95.00 every two weeks. In September 1998, another child was born out of wedlock to appellee and a different woman, whom appellee married in July 1999. Appellee’s support obligation for Shamara was reviewed at a hearing on August 5, 1999. At the hearing, appellee testified that he has a master’s degree in business administration and is employed by Coahoma Community College in Mississippi. He stated that he has a second job at a casino, the commute to which requires an hour’s drive each way. He said that he is also obligated by a Mississippi court order to pay $700 per month in child support for his four other children. Appellee testified that his wife is working on her master’s degree in English education and is not employed during the school year. He said that he is the sole support for his wife, their child, and his wife’s son; his wife does not receive any child support from her son’s biological father.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the chancellor found appel-lee’s after-tax income to be $4,400 per month. He stated that, from this $4,400, he would deduct $140 for appellee’s commuting expenses and the $700 appellee was ordered to pay by the Mississippi court, to arrive at a net income of $3,600 per month. The chancellor also said that, in determining the amount of support required by the family-support chart, he would treat Shamara as one dependent, appellee’s wife and his stepchild as one dependent, and appellee’s child that was born to his present marriage as one dependent. He said that, based on appellee’s net income of $3,600, appellee should pay $972 in support for three dependents and, therefore, he would order appellee to pay one-third of that amount for Shamara. On August 6, 1999, the chancellor entered an order directing appellee to pay $150 every two weeks in child support.

On appeal, appellant makes the following arguments: (1) the chancellor erred in determining appellee’s net income by deducting his commuting expenses from his gross pay; (2) the chancellor erred in setting appellee’s support obligation for Shamara as one-third of the amount established by the family-support chart for three dependents; and (3) the chancellor erred in granting appellee a credit for his current wife and her son, appellee’s step-child.

The amount of child support a chancery court awards lies within the court’s sound discretion and will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. Davis v. Office of Child Support Enforcement, 68 Ark. App. 88, 5 S.W.3d 58 (1999). In setting the amount of support, the chancellor must refer to the family-support chart. Id. Reference to this chart is mandatory. Id. The family-support chart creates a rebuttable presumption that the amount of child support set forth therein is the correct amount of child support to be awarded and that such amount can be disregarded only if the chancery court makes a specific written finding that application of the support chart is unjust or inappropriate. Id.; In re Administrative Order No. 10: Arkansas Child Support Guidelines, 331 Ark. 581 (1998) (hereinafter “guidelines).

Before a chancellor can refer to the child-support chart, the payor’s income must be determined. Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Longnecker, 67 Ark. App. 215, 997 S.W.2d 445 (1999). The guidelines define “income” as follows:

Income means any form of payment, periodic or otherwise, due to an individual, regardless of source, including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, workers’ compensation, disability, payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program, and interest • less proper deductions for:
1. Federal and state income tax;
2. Withholding for Social Security (FICA), Medicare, and railroad retirement;
3. Medical insurance paid for dependant children, and
4. Presendy paid support for other dependents by Court order.

Therefore, we agree with appellant that the chancellor erred in deducting appellant’s commuting expenses from his after-tax income to arrive at his net income. However, as discussed below, such expenses may be considered by the chancellor in determining whether to deviate from the amount of child support established by the family-support chart.

We also agree with appellant that the chancellor erred in treating Shamara as one of three dependents and awarding her one-third of the amount of child support required by the family-support chart for three dependents. This method of determining support was disapproved in Barnes v. Barnes, 311 Ark. 287, 843 S.W.2d 835 (1992); Arkansas Dep’t of Human Servs. v. Forte, 46 Ark. App. 115, 877 S.W.2d 949 (1994); and Waldon v. Waldon, 34 Ark. App. 118, 806 S.W.2d 387 (1991). We explained our decision in Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Forte, as follows:

In the case at bar, there was evidence from which the chancellor could have found that appellee contributes to his other children’s support. Therefore, we cannot say the chancellor’s consideration of these children in setting support is in error. Nevertheless, we must reverse and remand this award to the chancellor because the method the chancellor employed in determining appellee’s child support obligation is not appropriate.
It appears that the chancellor applied appellee’s income figure of $270.00 to the chart under the column for three dependents, which showed support of $101.00, and then divided that figure by three, to arrive at support for U.T. of $35.00. In Waldon v. Waldon, supra, this Court held that the chart should be applied to the child that is before the court and that it is improper for the chancellor to have applied the chart based on three dependents and then divide that amount by three. “The result of applying the chart as the chancellor did here is that the amount of support for the one child was diluted, as the chart is structured so that the amount of support per child decreases in proportion to the number of added dependents.” 32 Ark. App. at 123, 806 S.W.2d at 390.

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Bluebook (online)
20 S.W.3d 426, 70 Ark. App. 487, 2000 Ark. App. LEXIS 502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/office-of-child-support-enforcement-v-pittman-arkctapp-2000.