Wilson v. Wilson

267 P.3d 485
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedDecember 6, 2011
Docket40402-8-II
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 267 P.3d 485 (Wilson v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Wilson, 267 P.3d 485 (Wash. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

267 P.3d 485 (2011)

In the Matter of the Marriage of Pamela G. WILSON, Respondent,
v.
Walter B. WILSON, Appellant.

No. 40402-8-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

December 6, 2011.

*486 Herbert Gelman, Attorney at Law, Tacoma, WA, for Appellant.

Matthew James Hutchins, Attorney at Law, Des Moines, WA, for Respondent.

PART PUBLISHED OPINION

VAN DEREN, J.

¶ 1 Walter Wilson appeals the trial court's orders from this marriage dissolution action. He alleges 14 assignments of error relating to the trial court's orders (1) setting child support, (2) setting maintenance, (3) granting moving and relocation expenses, (4) allocating the community debt, (5) awarding his former wife attorney fees, and (6) denying his reconsideration motion. We remand for (1) review of the child support order, (2) clarification of the deductions in the child support order, (3) entry of an Arvey worksheet, (4) modification of maintenance only to the extent as a result of any change to the ordered child support payment within the trial court's discretion, (5) determination of the amount of Pamela's attorney fees award incurred at trial; and (6) review of the propriety and amount of attorney fees incurred on appeal. We affirm the debt division and the award of relocation costs.

FACTS

¶ 2 Walter and Pamela Wilson[1] were married on February 27, 1982. During their marriage they had seven children. Walter and Pamela lived in Utah with their children for the majority of their marriage. In January 2007, Pamela and two of their daughters traveled to Washington so that Pam could care for her terminally-ill mother. In April 2007, the rest of the family moved to Washington to join them.

¶ 3 Walter and Pamela separated on August 21, 2008, 26 years after their marriage. When the marriage dissolved in January 2010, three of their children were still under age 18 and dependent. Their 14-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son lived with Pamela in Graham, Washington, while their 17-year-old son lived with his father in Provo, Utah.

¶ 4 Walter has a master's degree in business administration (MBA). During their marriage he was the primary provider and, until the past five years, he was the sole provider. Since 1997, he has worked at Oracle Corporation. Before working at Oracle, Walter was employed at Novell for almost ten years. At Novell, he worked as a sales analyst, an operations manager, and then as *487 director of administration. When the trial court heard this matter at trial, Walter was a senior technical specialist at Oracle. Although he had been making "well over $100,000" per year before trial, Walter testified that available overtime had decreased and, as of June 2009, he was making approximately $6,000 to $7,000 per month. Report of Proceedings (RP) at 116. But based on his earnings during the first eight months of 2009, Walter's annual gross income appeared to be $131,802.

¶ 5 During their 26-year marriage, Pamela for the most part stayed home and took care of the house and children while Walter worked. She held a few part time jobs, including one at a photography laboratory, which paid $7.50 per hour; and, for a few months, she worked at Stouffers. Before the parties filed for divorce, Pamela began working at Vadis, a consulting firm that assisted people with disabilities find employment. Her monthly gross income from Vadis was $2,060.00; the trial court used this figure in calculating child support.

¶ 6 Before trial, Pamela quit her job at Vadis to work as a massage therapist in Issaquah.[2] She testified that it was her plan to enroll in a nurse practitioner's program at nearby Bellevue College and to continue working while going to school following the divorce. She testified that the nurse practitioner program would cost at least $6,000 for each semester and would take six years to complete. She estimated that she would be able to make $2,500 per month as a massage therapist while she was attending school.

¶ 7 On February 26, 2009, the trial court entered a temporary order that required Walter to pay $500.00 per month for maintenance and $986.48 per month for child support. The trial court ordered him to pay the mortgage on the family home and the court further ordered the parties to list the home for sale. In June 2009, Walter stopped paying the mortgage on the home. The parties unsuccessfully attempted a short sale of the home to avoid foreclosure. At trial, the parties stipulated that there was no equity in the home where Pamela was still residing with two of their children.

¶ 8 Based on Pamela's and Walter's testimony, and argument from each of their attorneys, the trial court entered its oral ruling on October 26. The trial court found that Walter's 2008 gross income was $13,000.00 per month and his 2009 monthly gross income was $11,851.00. The court calculated his 2009 monthly net income as $8,911.52. The trial court determined that Pamela's 2009 monthly net income was $1,750.00. Combining Walter's and Pamela's individual 2009 monthly net incomes, the trial court calculated their 2009 joint net income as $10,661.00. Based on this number, the child support order required Pamela to contribute 17 percent to the support of the children and Walter to contribute 83 percent. The trial court ordered Pamela to pay the $724.00 Capital One credit card balance and Walter to pay the other debts, including the Chase VISA credit card and credit union debts totaling over $27,000.00. Although there was no equity in the family home, the trial court awarded the family home to Walter if he could avoid foreclosure.

¶ 9 Over the course of the pending dissolution action, Walter proposed multiple child support worksheets showing varying income and deductions. In setting child support, the trial court found that the support obligation was $1,109 per child for a three-child family. The trial court then calculated what each party owed for child support based on the number of children living with each parent and the percentage of the total income each parent would contribute. After deducting what Pamela would owe Walter for the one child in his care in Utah, the trial court determined that Walter owed Pamela $1,652 per month for child support. The child support worksheet does not show how the trial court treated deductions from income or calculated medical or other extra expenses for the children.

¶ 10 The trial court also ordered Walter to pay maintenance to Pamela. In doing so, it considered the statutory factors, including the length of their marriage and Pamela's need in accordance with Walter's ability to pay. The court stated:

*488 [T]he parties opted into a traditional marriage arrangement where [the] wife stayed at home with the children, and [the] husband went out to work; and that is, certainly, nothing that one can disparage; but it does have some costs in the event that the parties get a divorce because whoever stays at home ... is not putting into Social Security. They don't have a chance to build up any kind of an independent retirement.

RP at 212-13. The trial court also considered the "extreme disparity in education" and "extreme disparity in income" between Walter and Pamela. RP at 213. The trial court also noted that Walter had a minimal pension account with Brigham Young University and a 401(k) plan, that Walter had cashed out the parties' community stock benefits but did not divide the proceeds equitably with Pamela, and that the tax refund "d[id] not appear to have been divided in an equitable manner." RP at 213.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
267 P.3d 485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-wilson-washctapp-2011.