Opinion ID: 1861788
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: was it error to allow the father credit on an existing judgment for child support and arrearage?

Text: As noted earlier, the father owed over $5,200 in support arrearages pursuant to a decree entered July 15, 1983. With interest, the figure amounted to almost $6,700. Pursuant to the terms of the December 19, 1986, decree, the father was allowed a credit for any support paid since Amanda had reached the age of 21 and also received credit for any amounts of support paid since Darren had moved into the father's home. The total credit at the time of the 1986 decree was $558. The chancery court allowed a credit for $558 against the total figure of almost $6,700 owed by the appellee to the appellant. In Schilling v. Schilling, 452 So.2d 834 (Miss. 1984), this Court held: When a parent is ordered to pay a specified amount periodically for the benefit of more than one child, the emancipation of one child does not automatically reduce the liability of the parent for the full amount. Id. at 836. Thus, Amanda's emancipation and the fact that Darren moved into the father's home does not automatically grant him the right to receive a credit for child support payments made after that point in time. However, under proper circumstances, the father should be allowed the opportunity to prove before a trial judge that he should receive such a credit. In the case sub judice, the father did just that by filing the petition to modify. Child support is given to the custodial parent strictly for the benefit and protection of the child. Hailey v. Holden, 457 So.2d 947, 950 (Miss. 1984). In Alexander v. Alexander, 494 So.2d 365 (Miss. 1986), this Court recognized the injustice of allowing the mother to continue to receive child support payments for a child who no longer lived with her, but in fact lived with the child's father. In our opinion, when the custodial parent received full child support during the time she had custody of the child, did not complain when the child moved in with the other parent, and accepted this arrangement for twenty months with child support being paid directly to the child, the parent paying the support is entitled to full credit for all support paid to the child. Id. at 368. The situation in Alexander closely resembles the present one. Once Darren moved in with the father, there was no logical reason for child support payments to continue to be made to the mother on Darren's behalf. The father should receive full credit for those payments. Based on this Court's decision under the first assignment of error, it was also proper for the father to receive credit for any payments made on Amanda's behalf once she reached the age of twenty-one. Therefore, it is the opinion of this Court that there is no merit to this assignment of error as presented by the mother.