Olson v. Olson

559 S.W.3d 395
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 10, 2018
DocketNo. SD 35239
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 559 S.W.3d 395 (Olson v. Olson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olson v. Olson, 559 S.W.3d 395 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

GARY W. LYNCH, J.

*397Jack Frederick Olson ("Father") appeals the trial court's judgment modifying the parenting time and support provisions of a judgment of dissolution from Christine B. Olson ("Mother"), raising three points of alleged trial court error. In his first point, Father alleges the trial court abused its discretion in entering a parenting plan that Father contends is not in the children's best interests. In his second and third points, Father claims the trial court misapplied the law in failing to (1) specifically provide in its parenting plan for parenting time on certain holidays (Point Two), and (2) indicate either how it calculated Father's child support obligation or include its own Form 14 in the judgment (Point Three). Father's second and third points have merit. We reverse the judgment in part, do not reach the merits of Father's first point, and remand the case to the trial court with directions to prepare a parenting plan in compliance with section 452.310.8 and to make an adequate record supporting the calculation of Father's child support obligation in compliance with Rule 88.01.1 In all other respects, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

The parties were married in Wisconsin in November 1996, had three children, and subsequently moved to Newton County, Missouri, in June 2010. Their marriage was dissolved in Newton County in October 2011, whereupon the trial court awarded joint legal and joint physical custody of the children to the parties with Mother's address designated as the children's for educational and mailing purposes. Father chose to return to Wisconsin to live and work in February 2012, while Mother and the minor children continued to live in Neosho.

In August 2015, Father moved to modify his parenting time and child support, alleging substantial and continuing changes in circumstances due to his relocation to Wisconsin and the ages of the parties' children. At that time, the parties' minor children, N.O. and twins M.O. and J.O., were ages 10 and 8, respectively. Mother filed a counter-motion to modify, alleging continuing and substantial changes in circumstances, including an increase in the children's financial needs, the cost of living, and Father's income, as well as the unfeasibility of the joint custody plan after Father's relocation.

A trial on the parties' motions was held in October 2016. The trial court entered its judgment of modification on July 24, 2017. Therein, the trial court found "there has been no change of circumstance in the condition of the minor children and [Mother] since the" original judgment was entered; however, "the best interests of the children will be served by the Court making modifications to [Father's] periods of visitation and custody." The parties' joint legal and joint physical custody of the children was not modified, nor was the designation of Mother's residence as that of the children's for educational and mailing purposes. The judgment contained a new parenting plan for the parties. The judgment modified Father's child support and ordered that Father pay $814.00 per month, stating, "This calculation is in conformity *398with Rule 88 and Form 14 guidelines." Each party was held responsible for their own attorney fees and costs.

On July 31, 2017, Father timely filed a post-trial motion requesting that the trial court amend its judgment "to allow [Father] reasonable parenting time, delineate parenting time on all legally-required holidays, order him to provide the children's health insurance, adjust child support accordingly, and show how the Court calculated its child support amount." Father contended that the trial court's parenting plan in its modification judgment was an abuse of discretion and not in the best interest of the children, in that it required "short long-distance visitation, long-distance visitation at peak periods paid for entirely by him, a profusion of long-distance travel for him and the children each year, and prohibit[ed] him from ever seeing his children on Christmas or spending Thanksgiving with him at his home." Father alleged that those arrangements "make[ ] it extraordinarily arduous for the children to have parenting time with [Father]" because he "must drive 20 hours to see his children for 48 hours, the children must be shuttled 650 miles eight-to-twelve times each summer alone, and they will never see their father on Christmas again." (Italics in original).

Father also complained about the absence of any "provision for any schoolyear three-day weekend holidays (Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day)[,]" as provided under sections 452.375.9 and 452.310.8(a) and (b), and the supreme court's parenting plan guidelines. Father alleged that this omission "is reversible error by itself."

Finally, Father contended the modification judgment should be amended because the trial court failed to state how it calculated Father's child support obligation and did not include its own Form 14 in its modification judgment, as provided in section 452.340, Rule 88, and the Form 14 guidelines. Father alleged this omission was reversible error, in that it does not allow for meaningful appellate review.

Father's motion to amend the judgment was automatically overruled ninety days after it was filed by operation of Rule 78.06. Father timely appeals. Because Father's second and third points are dispositive, we begin our review with those claims.

Standard of Review

"Our standard of review in a dissolution action is governed, as in any court-tried case, by the standard set forth in Murphy v. Carron , 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976)." Schollmeyer v. Schollmeyer , 393 S.W.3d 120, 122 (Mo. App. 2013). "We will affirm the decree of dissolution unless it is not supported by substantial evidence, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law." Barth v. Barth , 372 S.W.3d 496, 503 (Mo. App. 2012).

Discussion

Point 2 - Parenting Plan Does Not Address Certain Holidays

In his second point, Father claims:

The trial court misapplied the law in entering its parenting plan because §§ 452.375.9 and 452.310.8(a) and (b), R.S.Mo., as well as the Supreme Court's Parenting Plan Guidelines, require all parenting plans to delineate the custody, visitation, and residential time for each child with each party specifically on Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day in that the trial court's visitation schedule *399is devoid of any mention of these holidays.

We agree.

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Bluebook (online)
559 S.W.3d 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/olson-v-olson-moctapp-2018.