Patterson v. Patterson

248 P.3d 204, 226 Ariz. 356, 601 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4, 2011 Ariz. App. LEXIS 19
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedFebruary 10, 2011
Docket1 CA-CV 10-0118
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 248 P.3d 204 (Patterson v. Patterson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patterson v. Patterson, 248 P.3d 204, 226 Ariz. 356, 601 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4, 2011 Ariz. App. LEXIS 19 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

248 P.3d 204 (2011)

In re the Marriage of Raquel Helena PATTERSON, Petitioner/Appellant,
v.
Shawn Jamaal PATTERSON, Respondent/Appellee.

No. 1 CA-CV 10-0118.

Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, Department D.

February 10, 2011.

*205 Mushkatel & Becker, PLLC By Mathis Becker and Zachary Mushkatel, Sun City, Attorneys for Petitioner/Appellant.

OPINION

NORRIS, Judge.

¶ 1 Raquel Helena Patterson ("Mother") timely appeals from the family court's exclusion of the value of Shawn Jamaal Patterson's ("Father's") on-base military housing from his gross income in its child-support calculation.[1] Interpreting the Arizona Child Support Guidelines, Ariz.Rev.Stat. ("A.R.S.") § 25-320 app. § 5(A) (2007) ("Guidelines"), we hold the court should not have excluded the value of Father's on-base housing from his gross income without determining whether its value was significant and reduced Father's personal living expenses. Therefore, we remand to the family court for it to make this determination consistent with this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 2 After being married to Father for nine years, Mother petitioned the family court to dissolve the marriage. At the time of her petition and trial, Father was a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force. In her petition, Mother requested an award of reasonable child support for the couple's children, and, at trial, she specifically requested the court include in its calculation of Father's gross income the value of his on-base housing while stationed at a New Mexico Air Force base. Father testified he lived on base and had taken steps to continue to live on base. Father also testified he would receive an $876 housing allowance from the Air Force if he lived off base.

¶ 3 The court denied Mother's request to include the value of Father's on-base housing in his gross income for child support. The court rested its decision on essentially two grounds. First, the court excluded the value of Father's housing because Father was "not getting it," explaining it never included the value of employer-provided housing when the "employer is the military." Second, the court suggested it had excluded the value of Father's housing because it was concerned *206 the value was speculative: "[I]f [Father] lived off base, if [he] got hazardous duty— and there's all kinds of things that we would speculate on, but the base pay we know is for sure $2,996. I'll use that."

DISCUSSION[2]

I. Child Support

¶ 4 Mother argues the family court should have considered the value of Father's on-base housing as part of his gross income for child support. We agree. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-320, our supreme court has established guidelines for the determination of child support. The issue presented here— which is one of first impression in Arizona— requires us to interpret these guidelines; thus, we are presented with a question of law, which we review de novo. Hetherington v. Hetherington, 220 Ariz. 16, 21, ¶ 21, 202 P.3d 481, 486 (App.2008) (quoting Mead v. Holzmann, 198 Ariz. 219, 220, ¶ 4, 8 P.3d 407, 408 (App.2000)).

¶ 5 The current Arizona Child Support Guidelines, effective January 1, 2005, define gross income as follows:

Gross income includes income from any source, and may include, but is not limited to, income from salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits (subject to Section 26), worker's compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, recurring gifts, prizes, and spousal maintenance. Cash value shall be assigned to in-kind or other non-cash benefits. Seasonal or fluctuating income shall be annualized. Income from any source which is not continuing or recurring in nature need not necessarily be deemed gross income for child support purposes.

Guidelines § 5(A) (emphasis added). The Guidelines also state "[e]xpense reimbursements or benefits received by a parent in the course of employment or self-employment or operation of a business shall be counted as income if they are significant and reduce personal living expenses." Id. § 5(D) (emphasis added).[3] The Guidelines authorize the court to deviate from the Guidelines when applying them would be "inappropriate or unjust in the particular case," when the court has considered the child's best interests in determining the amount of the deviation, and when the court makes written findings stating why it deviated and what the child-support obligation "would have been without the deviation." Guidelines § 20(A).

¶ 6 When we interpret the Guidelines "we apply the same rules of construction as are used in construing statutes." Mead, 198 Ariz. at 221, ¶ 8, 8 P.3d at 409. "Thus, to determine the supreme court's intent under section [5] of the Guidelines, we look first to its language," id., as the "best and most reliable indicator" of its meaning. State v. Garcia, 219 Ariz. 104, 106, ¶ 6, 193 P.3d 798, 800 (App.2008). "We further interpret [the section] in conjunction with other provisions of the Guidelines and in light of the Guidelines' overall purpose." Mead, 198 Ariz. at 221, ¶ 8, 8 P.3d at 409 (citation omitted). The Guidelines include "income from any source" as gross income, and also require the cash value of "other non-cash benefits" be counted as gross income if they are "significant and reduce personal living expenses." Guidelines § 5(A), (D). Looking at the plain language, the Guidelines are broad enough to encompass Father's free on-base housing.[4]

*207 ¶ 7 Although no Arizona case directly deals with this issue, including "free housing" in gross income is consistent with our interpretation of the Guidelines in Hetherington. In Hetherington, we recognized that an employer's contributions to an employee's retirement plan and to other benefits such as health-insurance premiums could be included as gross income for child-support purposes if the family court finds these benefits are "significant and reduce personal living expenses." 220 Ariz. at 23, ¶¶ 27-28, 202 P.3d at 488 (quoting Guidelines § 5(D)).[5]

¶ 8 To reach this holding in Hetherington, we analyzed cases from other jurisdictions and concluded "most courts agree that the employment benefits that a parent receives that reduce his living expenses should be included as income to that parent for the purpose of determining the amount of child support." Id. at 22, ¶ 24, 202 P.3d at 487. In noting this, we cited cases from other jurisdictions that have held the trial court may include the value of employer-subsidized housing (among other benefits) in a parent's gross income. Id. (citing In re Marriage of Schulze, 60 Cal.App.4th 519, 70 Cal.Rptr.2d 488, 494-95 (1997); Gangwish v. Gangwish, 267 Neb. 901, 678 N.W.2d 503, 514-15 (2004); Mobley v. Mobley, 309 S.C. 134, 420 S.E.2d 506, 509-10 (1992)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 P.3d 204, 226 Ariz. 356, 601 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4, 2011 Ariz. App. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-patterson-arizctapp-2011.