Schacht v. Schacht

892 N.E.2d 1271, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2011, 2008 WL 4138217
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 9, 2008
Docket73A01-0802-CV-86
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 892 N.E.2d 1271 (Schacht v. Schacht) 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
Schacht v. Schacht, 892 N.E.2d 1271, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2011, 2008 WL 4138217 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

BROWN, Judge.

David E. Schacht (“Father”) appeals the trial court’s grant of a petition to modify' child support and educational expenses filed by Pamela K. Walker (“Mother”). Father raises five issues, which we reorder and restate as:

I. Whether the trial court erred by modifying Father’s obligation to pay his daughter’s educational expenses;
II. Whether the trial court erred in defining and determining “other educational expenses;”
III. Whether the trial court erred when it applied scholarships, grants, and awards to the daughter’s one-third share of educational expenses;
IV. Whether the trial court erred by denying Father’s request to terminate his child support obligation retroactively but granting a retroactive modification of his educational expense obligation; and
V. Whether the trial court erred by ordering Father to pay a portion of Mother’s attorney fees.

We affirm in part and reverse in part.

The relevant facts follow. Father and Mother had one daughter, D.S., born on January 10, 1987. Father and Mother divorced in 1989, and provisions were made for custody and support of D.S. In 2005, the trial court approved an agreed entry modifying Father’s child support obligation to $40.00 per week. Father and Mother also agreed that they would “each pay one-third (1/3) of college expenses for [D.S.] after payment of scholarship funds.” Appellant’s Appendix at 16. Following the 2005 modification, the parties figured the cost of D.S.’s college education at the University of Indianapolis, subtracted her scholarships and grants, and Mother, Father, and D.S. each paid one-third of the remaining expenses.

*1274 In July 2007, Mother filed a petition to modify child support and educational expenses. Specifically, Mother requested that Father pay more of the educational expenses, that the educational expenses include expenses necessary to meet D.S.’s financial needs, that Father be required to maintain D.S.’s medical insurance as long as the benefits were available, and that the amount of child support be revised.

At the hearing on Mother’s petition, Mother testified that her current husband had been diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2007 and with a brain tumor in April 2007. Mother testified that her husband was unable to work and had exhausted his short-term disability benefits in June 2007. They had received $3,000.00 from a charity ride and $17,000.00 in benefits from a cancer policy, but Mother estimated that the funds would be exhausted in early 2008. Because her husband was not working, Mother was paying an extra $200 per month to maintain their medical insurance policies. Mother and her husband had also incurred over $3,300 in uninsured medical expenses for husband’s treatments. Mother was also concerned that, when D.S. turned twenty-one in January 2008, the $40.00 per week in child support would cease and that Father would no longer provide D.S.’s health insurance.

The trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law granting Mother’s petition. Specifically, the trial court found that “[ajpplying the Indiana Child Support Guidelines to the parties’ incomes results in [Father] paying 72% of the educational expenses, an amount that differs by more than 20% from the existing order of one-third.” Appellant’s Appendix at 6. Further, the trial court found “a change of circumstances so substantial and continuing that the terms of the 2005 modification are unreasonable.” Id. In particular, the trial court found substantial changes because D.S. was turning twenty-one years old on January 10, 2008, and in that because Mother “has incurred a significant loss of family income due to the illness of her husband and has had to assume additional expenses, [Mother’s] financial ability to pay a one-third share of education expenses has changed accordingly.” Id. at 7.

The trial court then concluded that Father’s child support obligation would terminate on January 10, 2008, D.S.’s twenty-first birthday. Additionally, the trial court also defined “other educational expenses” as “transportation, car insurance, clothing and incidental expenses” and determined that $3,600.00 was “a reasonable amount to cover these expenses annually.” Id. at 8. The trial court ordered that, retroactive to July 27, 2007, D.S.’s scholarships, grants, and awards be credited against D.S.’s one-third obligation and that Mother pay 28% and Father pay 72% of the balance of the educational expenses. Finally, the trial court ordered Father to maintain health insurance on D.S. as long as she remained eligible and ordered Father to pay $750.00 of Mother’s attorney fees.

I.

The first issue is whether the trial court erred by modifying Father’s obligation to pay D.S.’s educational expenses. “We place a ‘strong emphasis on trial court discretion in determining child support obligations’ and regularly acknowledge ‘the principle that child support modifications will not be set aside unless they are clearly erroneous.’ ” Lea v. Lea, 691 N.E.2d 1214, 1217 (Ind.1998) (quoting Stultz v. Stultz, 659 N.E.2d 125, 128 (Ind.1995)). “Findings are clearly erroneous only when the record contains no facts to support them either directly or by inference.” Quillen v. Quillen, 671 N.E.2d 98, 102 (Ind.1996). A judgment is clearly erroneous if it relies *1275 on an incorrect legal standard. Menard, Inc. v. Dage-MTI, Inc., 726 N.E.2d 1206, 1210 (Ind.2000), reh’g denied. We give due regard to the trial court’s ability to assess the credibility of witnesses. Id. While we defer substantially to findings of fact, we do not do so to conclusions of law. Id. We do not reweigh the evidence; rather we consider the evidence most favorable to the judgment with all reasonable inferences drawn in favor of the judgment. Yoon v. Yoon, 711 N.E.2d 1265, 1268 (Ind. 1999).

The modification of a child support order is governed by Ind.Code § 31-16-8-1, which provides:

a) Provisions of an order with respect to child support or an order for maintenance (ordered under IC 31-16-7-1 or IC 31-l-11.5-9(c) before their repeal) may be modified or revoked.
b) Except as provided in section 2 of this chapter, modification may be made only:
1) upon a showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unreasonable; or
2) upon a showing that:

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Bluebook (online)
892 N.E.2d 1271, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2011, 2008 WL 4138217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schacht-v-schacht-indctapp-2008.