Valencia A. Jackson v. Kenneth S. Jackson (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided August 21, 2018·No. 18A-DR-282·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED

regarded as precedent or cited before any Aug 21 2018, 10:05 am

court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK Indiana Supreme Court

the defense of res judicata, collateral Court of Appeals and Tax Court

estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE William M. Horne Cody P. Cogswell Horne Law, LLC Cogswell & Associates, LLC Indianapolis, Indiana Fishers, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Valencia A. Jackson, August 21, 2018 Appellant-Respondent, Court of Appeals Case No.

18A-DR-282

v. Appeal from the Marion Superior Kenneth S. Jackson, Court

Appellee-Petitioner. The Honorable James A. Joven, Judge

Trial Court Cause No.

49D13-1108-DR-29314

Mathias, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-DR-282 | August 21, 2018 Page 1 of 18

[1] Valencia A. Jackson1 (“Mother”) appeals the Marion Superior Court’s order granting a petition filed by Mother’s ex-husband, Kenneth S. Jackson (“Father”), regarding the modification of Father’s child support obligation.

[2] Mother appeals and presents six issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as the following four:

I. Whether the trial court erred when it imputed income to Mother;

II. Whether Father qualified for a modification of his child support order;

III. Whether Father’s bonus income should have been included in the trial court’s recalculation of Father’s arrearage; and

IV. Whether the trial court erred in its determinations on attorney’s fees.

[3] We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions.

Facts and Procedural History [4] Mother and Father were married in 2003 and had two daughters together—

K.J., born in 2005, and V.J., born in 2007 (collectively “the Children”). The parties divorced in 2011, and Mother became the primary physical custodian of the Children. On November 13, 2013, the trial court approved an agreed entry setting Father’s child support obligation at $305 per week.2

1 Valencia A. Jackson now goes by Valencia A. Maragh.

2 Father was paying $330 per week, however, $25 of that was toward arrears. It appears from the November 15, 2013 order that Father had previously been paying $110 per week. See Appellant’s App. p. 49.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-DR-282 | August 21, 2018 Page 2 of 18

[5] In February 2014, Father filed a petition to modify his child support obligation based on a nine-week loss of employment from February 2014 to April 2014. In a February 2015 order, the court denied Father’s request to modify his child support obligation because Father regained employment in April 2014, and thereafter, his income did not satisfy the necessary 20% change in support required for modification. Appellant’s App. p. 54. But the court did award Father a credit on his arrearage owed to Mother for the nine weeks during which he was unemployed. Id.

[6] In April 2014, Father, an electrician, began working for Mister Sparky3 in Indianapolis, Indiana. As an operations manager, Father’s salary in 2017 was approximately $72,488. In addition to his salary, Father receives a yearly bonus that is based on his performance and the business’s profitability from the previous year. In April 2017, Father received his 2016 bonus of $17,517.35 in cash plus $5,839.12 in shares.4 Beginning August 11, 2017, Father also began to receive additional income of $750 per month because he holds a Master Electrician License, which is necessary for Mister Sparky to operate. See Tr. p. 43; Ex. Vol., Pet’r Ex. C. Previously, this stipend was paid annually, but the record is unclear as to the amount and consistency of these payments.

3 Mister Sparky is a part of Clockwork Home Services and is a member of the Direct Energy group of companies. 4 Father will be able to access the share component of the award in two equal payments which will be released two and three years after the award date respectively. Ex. Vol., Pet’r Ex. B. The shares are also contingent on Father’s continuous employment. Id.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-DR-282 | August 21, 2018 Page 3 of 18

[7] Mother worked the front desk at a doctor’s office in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she made $14 an hour. After downsizing, Mother was laid off, and she applied for thirty or forty jobs but received no offers of employment. She then started her own home-cleaning business in February 2017.5 At some point in 2017, Mother also began working as a home health attendant where she earns $16 per hour, but the hours vary each week.

[8] On March 15, 2017, Father filed a petition to modify child support and parenting time. On August 31, 2017, Father amended this petition to seek modifying child support only. Father asked that parenting time issues be reserved for a later date, and the trial court granted Father’s amended petition. Mother filed her answer to Father’s amended petition on September 20, 2017, in which she denied Father was entitled to modification, and she requested attorney fees.

[9] The trial court held a hearing on Father’s petition on October 24, 2017. During this hearing, the court chastised counsel for failing to accurately file financial declarations and child support worksheets in advance. The court remarked, “neither party showed up prepared today[,]” and set the next hearing for November 28, 2017. Tr. p. 30.

[10] On November 13, 2017, Mother filed a motion in limine seeking to bar Father from introducing testimony about his 2014 income at the November 28 hearing

5 Although Mother indicated that she did not officially start her cleaning business until February 2017, see Tr. p. 78, she registered the business with the Secretary of State in July 2016. Ex. Vol., Pet’r Ex. F.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 18A-DR-282 | August 21, 2018 Page 4 of 18 unless he produced his 2014 tax returns to Mother. Father responded to Mother’s motion in limine on November 27, in which his counsel asserted that Father’s 2014 tax returns “ha[ve] no bearing on his current or future child support order as he made substantially less in 2014” because he was unemployed for several weeks. Appellant’s App. p. 179. Counsel also noted that Father “is not requesting for the Court to use the lesser amount.” Id. As a result, Father characterized Mother’s motion as “a bad faith pleading[,]” and he requested attorney fees accrued in responding to the motion. Id. at 181–82.

[11] At the November 28 hearing, both Mother and Father testified and were represented by counsel. On January 10, 2018, the trial court issued its modification order in which it granted Father’s request that his child support obligation be reduced to $237 per week.6 Id. at 43. The order also, in relevant part, concluded that: (1) Mother earns, or is capable of earning, a weekly gross income of $586; (2) there are no work-related child care expenses; (3) Father has shown a substantial change in circumstances necessary to make the current order unreasonable, as more than one year has passed since the last modification order, and the amount ordered differs by more than 20%; (4) if Father receives a bonus in the future, he is to pay Mother 14%7 of the gross

6 Notably, the trial court’s order states, “[t]he Court’s Child Support Worksheet Obligation is attached and incorporated into this order.” Appellant’s App. p. 42. However, there is no worksheet attached to the order provided to us. 7 The 14% resulted from the trial court dividing the amount it calculated as Father’s basic child support obligation, $300.58, by the calculated combined income, $2,153. But again, the order provided to us does not contain an attached Child Support Worksheet, and there is no other mention in the record of the amounts $300.58 and $2,153.

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