Richardson v. Hansrote

883 N.E.2d 1165, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 360, 2008 WL 495907
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 26, 2008
Docket72A01-0706-CV-288
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 883 N.E.2d 1165 (Richardson v. Hansrote) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richardson v. Hansrote, 883 N.E.2d 1165, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 360, 2008 WL 495907 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

NAJAM, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

John L. Richardson (“Father”) appeals the trial court’s order denying his post-dissolution motion for rule to show cause why Susan E. Hansrote (“Mother”) should not be held in contempt. Father asserts three issues on appeal, which we restate as:

1. Whether the trial court erred when it determined that Father has a child support arrearage.
2. Whether errors by the clerk of the court, who mistakenly applied two of Father’s child support payments to the wrong account, are attributable to Father.
3. Whether the trial court erred when it determined that a child support obligation paid by an income withholding order is not paid until it is received in the clerk’s office where Mother had agreed to an income withholding order.

We reverse and remand with instructions.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Decree dissolved the marriage of Father and Mother on May 16, 2002. The *1169 parties have three minor children. In the Decree, the dissolution court awarded joint custody of the children to Father and Mother, giving Mother primary physical custody and Father visitation. Regarding child support, the Decree provided, in relevant part:

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND DECREED by the Court that [Father] be, and he hereby is, ordered to pay child support for the benefit of the minor children of the parties in the sum of $168.00 per week to the Clerk of the Scott Superior Court commencing on the first Friday following the date of this Decree of Dissolution of Marriage and continuing on each and every Friday thereafter until the further order of this Court....
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND DECREED by the Court that [Father] be, and he hereby is, found to be in arrears in the payment of child support as set forth in the Provisional Order herein, and that [Father] shall pay the sum of $32.00 per week in addition to current child support until said arrear-age is paid in full.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND DECREED by the Court that [Father] be, and he hereby is, awarded the tax exemption for income tax purposes each year for the minor child of the parties, [S.D.R.], as long as [Father] is current on the payment toward child support as of December SI of each year .... The parties shall alternate the tax exemption on the minor child of the parties, M.A.R., with [Mother] receiving the tax exemption on even-numbered years commencing with the taxable year 2002, and [Father] receiving the tax exemption on odd-numbered years as long as [Father] is current on the payment toward child support as of December 31 of each year....

Appellant’s App. at 8-9 (emphases added).

On June 9, 2005, Father filed a Verified Petition for Modification of Decree of Dissolution of Marriage Regarding Parenting Time, Child Support and Related Issues. On August 25, 2005, the parties executed an agreed modification of the Decree (“Agreed Modification”), under which the parties agreed for child support to be paid by an income withholding order. The Agreed Modification also reduced Father’s support obligation, as follows:

By agreement of the parties, [Father’s] child support obligation is hereby reduced to ONE HUNDRED FORTY-TWO DOLLARS ($142.00) per week beginning Friday, August 26, 2005. [Father] will continue to pay his child support obligation to the Clerk of the Scott Superior Court until such time that an Income Withholding Order becomes effective ....

Appellant’s App. at 12. The voluntary income withholding order was entered on September 22, 2005, and Father continued to make child support payments directly to the clerk of the court until the income withholding order took effect. The trial court approved and entered the Agreed Modification on October 7, 2005. •

On January 30 or 31, 2006, Mother telephoned Father and informed him that she planned to file her 2005 income tax return the following day, claiming all three of the parties’ children as exemptions because Father was in arrears on his child support obligation as of December 31, 2005. Father denied any arrearage, but, upon checking with the clerk of the court the following day, he discovered that the clerk had erroneously credited Father’s June 17 and July 8, 2005, payments to another child support account. Father immediately presented his receipt for the June 17, *1170 2005, payment, which he then realized showed that the clerk had erroneously credited the payment to Brian Richardson. The clerk corrected that error at once. Father did not have the receipt for the July 8, 2005, payment, so he immediately made another payment of $168 for July 8. Both the June 17 and the replacement July 8 payments were credited as of February 2, 2006, but the clerk did not correctly credit Father’s account for the original July 8, 2005, payment until after completing an audit of Brian Richardson’s account. 1

When Father filed his 2005 tax return and claimed two of the children as tax exemptions pursuant to the Decree, he believed that he was not in arrears as of December 31, 2005. But Mother had already filed her 2005 return, also claiming those children. As a result, the Internal Revenue Service ordered Father to file an amended return and imposed penalties against him.

On January 24, 2007, Father filed a Motion for Rule to Show Cause, seeking to hold Mother in contempt because the Decree provided for Father to claim two children as dependents for 2005 but Mother had claimed those exemptions on her 2005 return. In her reply, Mother asserted that Father was not entitled to any of the tax exemptions because his child support payments were not current as of December 31, 2005. After a hearing, the court entered an order denying Father’s motion (“Show Cause Order”), finding that he was $510 in arrears on December 31, 2005. The Court found as follows:

3.In this case there is no evidence that any non-conforming support payments were paid. The Clerk’s records in this case show that as of 31 December 2005, [Father’s] support was in arrears in the sum of $510.00.
4. [Father] has asserted that such ar-rearage was the result of two (2) payments made by him and misapplied by the Clerk’s office until 3 January, 2006. Further [Father’s] evidence indicated that the Clerk corrected one of the misapplied payments but this did not happen until February 2006. Further [Father] testified that he paid his support current upon being advised by [Mother] of an arrearage.
5. The order in this case is clear that, in order to be entitled to claim the tax exemptions, [Father] must have been current on his support as of 31 December 2005. In order for the Parties to determine if support is current the Parties must be in a position to rely upon the Clerk’s records.

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Bluebook (online)
883 N.E.2d 1165, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 360, 2008 WL 495907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-v-hansrote-indctapp-2008.