Thomas H. Torson v. Vicky L. Torson (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided December 20, 2016·No. 90A05-1602-DR-362·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), FILED this Memorandum Decision shall not be Dec 20 2016, 9:52 am regarded as precedent or cited before any CLERK

court except for the purpose of establishing Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals

the defense of res judicata, collateral and Tax Court

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Michael H. Michmerhuizen James C. Yankosky Barrett McNagny, LLP Angelica N. Fuelling Fort Wayne, Indiana Tourkow Crell Rosenblatt & Johnston, LLP

Fort Wayne, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Thomas H. Torson, December 20, 2016 Appellant-Respondent, Court of Appeals Case No.

90A05-1602-DR-362

v. Appeal from the Wells Superior Court

Vicky L. Torson, The Honorable Kenton W. Appellee-Petitioner. Kiracofe, Judge Trial Court Cause No.

90D01-1002-DR-16

Barnes, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1602-DR-362 | December 20, 2016 Page 1 of 20

Summary

[1] Thomas Torson appeals the trial court’s order modifying the parties’ parenting

time and the child support order in favor of Vicky Torson. We affirm in part and remand consistent with this decision.

Issues

Thomas raises four issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as:

I. whether the trial court abused its discretion when it included the acquisition of certain stock in his income for purposes of calculating child support and modifying Thomas’s child support payments; and

II. whether the trial court abused its discretion when it modified the parties’ parenting time.

Facts

[2] Thomas and Vicky were married in 1992, and they had three sons. In February

2010, Vicky filed her petition for dissolution of marriage. In April 2010, the parties filed their marital settlement agreement, and the trial court approved it. The parties’ sons were thirteen, eleven, and eight years old at the time the settlement agreement was approved. The parties agreed to share joint legal and physical custody of their three children, one of whom has since turned eighteen. Since then, this matter has remained contentious, and the parties have been litigious. They have filed numerous contempt citations, petitions for rule to show cause, and requests for modifications. Between April 2010 and October 2010, the parties filed four mediated settlement agreements. In May 2012, the parties filed a fifth mediated agreement in which they agreed Thomas would Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1602-DR-362 | December 20, 2016 Page 2 of 20 have sole legal custody of the children; they continued to share physical custody. Thereafter, the parties continued to litigate issues related to custody, child support, and parenting time.

[3] On June 11, 2015, Thomas filed a petition for modification of parenting time schedule and related orders. At the time Thomas filed his petition, Thomas exercised parenting time eight out of fourteen overnights, and Vicky exercised parenting time six out of fourteen overnights. On July 22, 2015, Vicky filed a verified petition to modify child support and post-secondary educational expenses. At the time Vicky filed her petition, the parties’ eldest child was responsible for one-third of his college expenses. Of the remaining two-thirds of the college expenses, Thomas was responsible for paying sixty percent, and Vicky was responsible for paying forty percent. In August 2015, at Thomas’s request, the trial court appointed a guardian ad litem.

[4] After hearings on the parties’ motions, the trial court sua sponte entered findings of fact and conclusions thereon on January 25, 2016. The trial court modified the parties’ parenting time by ordering Thomas and Vicky to have seven out of fourteen overnights with the minor children. The trial court modified Thomas’s weekly child support obligation and ordered him to pay 71% of the portion of college expenses for which the parties are responsible and ordered Vicky to pay 29% of those college expenses. Thomas now appeals.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1602-DR-362 | December 20, 2016 Page 3 of 20

Analysis

I. Child Support

[5] “‘A trial court’s calculation of child support is presumptively valid.’” Martinez v. Deeter, 968 N.E.2d 799, 805 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (quoting Young v. Young, 891 N.E.2d 1045, 1047 (Ind. 2008)). “A trial court’s decision regarding child support will be upheld unless the trial court has abused its discretion.” Martinez, 968 N.E.2d at 805. “A trial court abuses its discretion when its decision is clearly against the logic and the effect of the facts and circumstances before the court or if the court has misinterpreted the law.” Id. Where, as here, the trial court enters findings of fact and conclusions thereon sua sponte, the specific findings control only with regard to the issues they cover. Id. The trial court’s findings or judgment will be set aside only if they are clearly erroneous. In re Marriage of Sutton, 16 N.E.3d 481, 485 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014). A finding is clearly erroneous only if there are no facts or inferences drawn therefrom to support it. Id. “A general judgment standard applies to any issue upon which the trial court has not found, and we may affirm a general judgment on any theory supported by the evidence adduced at trial.” Martinez, 968 N.E.2d at 805.

[6] Indiana trial judges are granted latitude and deference in family law matters. Steele-Giri v. Steele, 51 N.E.3d 119, 124 (Ind. 2016). “On appeal it is not enough that the evidence might support some other conclusion, but it must positively require the conclusion contended for by appellant before there is a basis for reversal.” Id. (citation omitted). “Appellate judges are not to reweigh the Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1602-DR-362 | December 20, 2016 Page 4 of 20 evidence nor reassess witness credibility, and the evidence should be viewed most favorably to the judgment.” Id. (citation omitted).

(a) Provisions of an order with respect to child support or an order for maintenance . . . may be modified or revoked . . . .

(1) upon a showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unreasonable; or

(2) upon a showing that:

(A) a party has been ordered to pay an amount in child support that differs by more than twenty percent (20%) from the amount that would be ordered by applying the child support guidelines;

and

(B) the order requested to be modified or revoked was issued at least twelve (12) months before the petition requesting the modification was filed.

Ind. Code § 31-16-8-1.

A. Calculation of Thomas’s Income [7] Thomas first challenges the trial court’s inclusion in its calculation of his income certain stock his employer, United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”), gives him. He contends he receives the stock “in lieu of a traditional pension.” Appellant’s Br. p. 24.

[8] The trial court found that, based on their 2014 W-2s, Vicky earned $929.33 per week and Thomas earned $2,302.91 per week. The trial court then ordered Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 90A05-1602-DR-362 | December 20, 2016 Page 5 of 20

Thomas to pay $177.37 per week in child support. Thomas testified his annual salary is “about $100,000.00” and that he also receives, “MIP.” Tr. p. 37. Thomas explained:

What that is is UPS doesn’t have a pension and our pension is stock and they call them RSUs and RSU stands for ‘restricted stock units’ and what it is given, I’ll give a ball park, I’m given about [$]20-25,000 a year of stock and that’s my retirement and they are in RSU form and that means out of say $25,000.00 in stock, it’s spread out over 5 years so they only give me so much per year . . . .

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Thomas H. Torson v. Vicky L. Torson (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

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