Yasumura v. Child Support Enforcement Agency

118 P.3d 1145, 108 Haw. 202
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedMay 9, 2005
Docket25395
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 118 P.3d 1145 (Yasumura v. Child Support Enforcement Agency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yasumura v. Child Support Enforcement Agency, 118 P.3d 1145, 108 Haw. 202 (haw 2005).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

BURNS, C.J.

Appellant David Masato Yasumura (Father) appeals from the family court’s 1 September 18, 2002 Order Affirming in Part, Reversing in Part, and Remanding Administrative Findings and Order Filed on June 14, 2001. On June 14, 2001, the Office of Child Support Hearings (OCSH) issued its Administrative Findings and Order that decided Father’s March 2, 2001 request for a decrease in his obligation to pay child support. We vacate in part, affirm in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Father and Appellee Lori Shizuko Yasu-mura (Mother) are the parents of a male child (Son), bom on August 19, 1978, and a female child (Daughter), born on March 8, 1982. The October 25, 1989 Divorce Decree awarded Father and Mother joint legal custody of Son and Daughtér, awarded Father physical custody of Son, awarded Mother physical custody of Daughter, and ordered Father to pay Mother child support for Daughter in the amount of $320.00 per month, commencing November 1, 1989. If Daughter did not continue her education post-high school, Father’s obligation would continue “until [Daughter] attains the age of 18 years or graduates from high school or discontinues high school, whichever occurs last.” If Daughter continued her education post-high school, Father’s obligation would continue “so long as [Daughter] continues her education post-high school on a full-time basis at an accredited college or university, or in a vocational or trade school, or until [Daughter] attains the age of 23 years, whichever occurs first.”

The Divorce Decree also stated, in relevant part, as follows:

As joint legal custodians, the parties shall confer on major decisions affecting the children, including, but not limited to, the children’s elementary and secondary education, the children’s higher education, major medical or dental care required by the children, the children’s school and after school activities of note, military service requiring the consent of the parties, and marriage requiring the consent of the parties. Additionally, each party shall keep the other apprised of the children’s general health, school progress (i.e.[,] report cards and the like), school activities, after school *204 activities, and general whereabouts when the children are with him or her.

Father subsequently married Alice Yasu-mura (Alice). They have two sons. Father owns A C Systems, Inc., which is in the business of installing air conditioning systems.

On March 2,2001, six days prior to Daughter’s nineteenth birthday, Father asked the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) for a “modification of the child support obligation to reduce child support because of his inability to make the current $320.00 a month support payments.” On April 24, 2001, CSEA issued its Administrative Findings and Order that proposed a reduction of Father’s child support obligation to $60.00 per month, commencing May 1, 2001. Mother objected to the proposed reduction and requested a hearing, alleging that “(1) [Father] is under-reporting [his] income; (2) [Father] should have income imputed; and/or (3) [Father’s] property should be considered in determining support.”

At the May 24, 2001 hearing, 2 CSEA stated, in relevant part, as follows:

[CSEA]: For the purposes of calculating child support using the Child Support Guidelines Work Sheet, [F]ather’s income was determined based on 1999 Federal tax returns. And that’s summarized in State’s Exhibit C.
We totaled the income from the sale of an S corporation of twenty thousand six hundred seventy-four dollars and annuities of fifty-one thousand five hundred and seventeen dollars.
[[Image here]]
And the total of that came out to seventy-two thousand one hundred and ninety-one dollars divided by twelve months for an average monthly income of six thousand sixteen dollars per month.
Mother’s income as reported by the Department of Labor averages out to two thousand three hundred and eighty-six dollars per month....
Father pays the medical insurance cost of one hundred and forty-seven dollars per month. So, the Child Support Guideline[s] Work Sheet calculates child support at six hundred and twenty dollars per month.

In her capacity as Father’s bookkeeper, Alice testified, in relevant part, as follows:

Q.... Can you explain this income from sales of S corporation, twenty thousand six seven four?
A. That amount shouldn’t be a sale item. It should be a capital gain to the S corporation.
[[Image here]]
The annuities money is money that was rolled over from the union, the sheet metal’s union and it was rolled over into Prudential Securities, I believe. The whole amount was rolled over.

Father and Alice testified, in relevant part, as follows:

[FATHER]: So, I am basically having a hard time getting work and the work that I get I have a hard time turning a profit.
[[Image here]]
HEARINGS OFFICER: Okay. What is your income?
[FATHER]: Almost nothing. You know, basically almost nothing. I made only about fifteen hundred dollars this ... year so far that ... we could pay myself for, you know.
[ALICE]: The financial situation of the company is such that in the last two years we have not been able to pay payroll or to have the burden or liability of the payroll taxes so we have not been paying payroll to either one of us.
This year, 2001, we are trying to pay something just so that we can ... pay the obligation to child support.
It’s not much but with all the work that we have and the small profit margins that we have on those jobs we’re not making even enough for overhead.
[[Image here]]
[ALICE]:....
... It’s just a profit and loss statement, '97 to '99, S corp tax returns and our personal tax returns because the S corp flows into our personal so if there’s a gain or a loss then we pick it up in our personal tax returns.
*205 However, because of the type of filing that we’re required to do by the IRS the income that’s reflected on the profit and loss statements is not ... actual because we’re on a hundred percent completion basis for contracts.
So, if a contract is not completed within the year then we have to back out that income and add it to the next year.
So, the years are all—the information isn’t accurate as far as income goes because of the way we have to report to the IRS.

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Related

Department of Human Services v. Hale
196 P.3d 322 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 P.3d 1145, 108 Haw. 202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yasumura-v-child-support-enforcement-agency-haw-2005.