### J - A11011 - 19

NON - PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37 KENZIE LEE FOUST

v. TIMOTHY M. SINGER

Appellant : : : : : : : : : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

PENNSYLVANIA

No. 1308 MDA 2018 Appeal from the Order Entered July 9, 2018 In the Court of Common Pleas of Sullivan County Civil Division at No(s): 15 DR 00012, PACSES 847115257 BEFORE: BOWES, J., OLSON, J., and STABILE, J. MEMORANDUM BY BOWES, J.: FILED JUNE 25, 2019 T imothy M. Singer (“Father”) appeals from the July 9, 2018 order that established a monthly child support obligation of $ 336 for his two children. We affirm. Father and Kenzie Lee Foust (“Mother”) never married . T he children wer e born of the relationship during November 2009 , and July 2014, respectively. Mother and the two children reside with the maternal grandparents in a home the grandparents own on West Cherry Street , in Dushore, Pennsylvania . Mother pays rent and provides money for groceries. The extent to which Father also resides in the home was the key factual dispute in this case. The parties agree that Father maintains a separate bed room in the home and that his state - issued identification card lists the West Cherry S treet residence as his home address. However, he does not pay

### J - A11011 - 19

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re nt or furnish money for food. His sole contribution to the household is mowing the lawn. Importantly, Mother asserts that Father lives in Proctor, Pennsylvania, with his girlfriend , who is also a co - worker . Mother claims that Father stays at her parent s’ home approximately twelve days per month when he visits the children . Prior to the commencement of this case, Mother and Father maintained an informal agreement whereby Mother would foreg o child support if Father helped her provide for the children financially . However, o n March 22, 2018, Mother filed a complaint for child support after Father neglected to provide such essentials as diapers for the younger child. The parties attended a domestic relations conference, and t he trial court entered an interim order awarding Mother $380 per month in child support based on the conference officer’s report and recommendation . Father filed timely excepti ons to the interim court order, and d uring the ensuing hearing, Mother and Father presented evidence regarding their respective finances and Father’s living arrangement s . As it relates to the particular incomes and obligations , the record demonstrates that Father has a reading disability and earn s $9.55 an hour as a factory worker at Pneu - Dart , a manufacturer of tranquilizer guns and accessories . N.T., 7/3/18, at 11 - 12, 23 - 24. Since Father does not drive, he commutes with his girlfriend from her home in Proctor, or finds a ride from Dushore to th e Pneu - Dart plant in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Id . at 11 , 32. Mother manages a Family Dollar

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retail store and earns $55,000 per year. Id . at 20 - 21. She commute s two hours to work roundtrip , and she provides insurance for the minor children. Id . at 13, 21. In relation to Father’s domicile , Father produced the aforementioned s tate - issued i dentification c ard that list s his address as the m aternal grandparent s’ home on West Cherry Street . Id at 6. He testified that he resided at the same address as Mother , their children, and the maternal grand parents for seven or eight years , and stated that he buys things for the children as necessary . Id . at 9, 19 . As noted supra , however, Mother countered that Father is essentially a tran sient guest at her parents’ home , and w hen questioned about whether he purchases items for the children , she indicated, “[s] ometimes, but not so much anymore.” Id . 19, 22, 28 . Two days after the evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered a child support or der directing Father to pay $336 per month in support plus $30 per month in arrears. Father timely filed the instant appeal and complied with the trial court’s directive to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1 925(b) , wherein he raised fifteen scattershot complaints . The trial court issued a Rule 1925(a) opinion explaining its rationale for fashioning the award of child support. Plainly, the court found that Father does not maintain a residence with his children or contribute to their living expenses. Father presents two questions for our review:

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- 4 - 1. Did the lower Court [ err ] as a matter of law and/or abuse its discretion in fa iling to give . . . appropriate weight to the testimony of both parties that the Appellant/Father resides at the family home and is with his minor children on an almost daily basis? 2. Did the lower Court [ err ] as a matter of law and/or abuse its discretion in failing to find that as both parties continue to reside together and share both the legal and shared physical custody of their minor children, that the Father was entitled to a reduction or deviation from the standard support calculations? Father’s brief at 4. 1 

### Essentially, Father challenges the weight that the trial court attributed to his evidence regarding whether he resides with the children at the maternal grandparent s’ home. Asserting that he does, in fact, live with the children and contributes to the home financially, Father contends that he is not o bligated to pay court - ordered child support. While Mother neglected to file a brief in this matter, recall that she previously argued that Father resi des with his girlfriend more than twice the number of days that he visits the West Cherry Street residence, and that Father contribute s to neither the living expenses at the residence nor the cost of caring for their children .

_________________ ____________________ _______ 1 

### Father’s brief includes additional argument that is neither articulated in his Rule 1925(b) statement n or included in the statement of questions involved . Th ose issues concern whether the tr ial court erred in neglecting to perform a seven - year lookback for the purposes of determining Father’s income or whether a downward deviation to the support guidelines was warranted pursuant to Pa. R.C.P. 1910. 16 - 5 . These arguments are waived. See Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)(4)(vii) (“Issues not included in the Statement . . . are waived.”); Pa.R.A.P. 2116(a) (“No question will be considered unless it is stated in the statement of questions involved or is fairly suggest ed thereby.”).

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This Court reviews child support awards for an abuse of discretion. Hanrahan v. Bakker , 186 A.3d 958, 966 (Pa. 2018 ) . As our High Court explained , “ a court abuses its discretion if it exercises judgment that is manifestly unreasonable or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill - will as shown by the evidence of record. [An appellate court] will not disturb a support order unless the trial court failed to consider properly the requirements of the rules governing support actions. ” Id . At the outset, we observe that Father ’s assertions relating to the trial court’s findings of fact ignore a foundational tenet underlying our standard of review of a child support order, i.e. , “[t]he fact
- finder is entitled to weigh the evidence prese nted and assess its credibility [.]” Samii v . Samii , 847 A.2d 691, 69 7 (Pa.Super. 2004) . Thus, a fter a thorough review of the certified record, the parties’ briefs and the pertinent law, we discern no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court as to the issues raised by Father, and we affir m the child support order on the basis of the cogent and well - reasoned opinion that President Judge Russell D. Shurtleff entered on September 10, 2018 . Order affirmed.

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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq. Prothonotary Date: 06/25/2019Circulated 05/31/2019 03:32 PM ! - J '- , ,

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