Opinion ID: 2621800
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Trial Court on Remand Should Decide Whether It Is in the Children's Best Interests to Allow Lorraine to Delay Payment of Her Child Support Arrearages.

Text: Henry argues that it was error to allow Lorraine to delay payment of her past due child support until she received her share of the EXXON VALDEZ claim money. Henry contends that because child support is a special debt on behalf of children that is separate from property division, the trial court had no authority to allow Lorraine to delay payment. A trial court has discretion to approve an offset against marital property for child support when it is in the child's best interests. [21] In this case the offset applies only to child support arrearages, and does not affect the amount of Lorraine's ongoing child support obligation. The trial court found that until the EXXON VALDEZ settlement is paid, neither party has the resources to pay the other party. When the trial court entered its order, Henry owed Lorraine $27,648.69 to equalize the property division. This amount was likely to exceed Lorraine's child support arrearages. Our holding today may result in substantial changes in the value of the assets charged to Henry. In light of probable changes in the totals each party is to receive, we need not decide whether it was an abuse of discretion to delay the settlement of the accounts between the parties until the EXXON VALDEZ settlement is received. The trial court did not make best interests findings on this issue. We therefore remand. If on remand the trial court finds that it is in the children's best interests to do so, it may then offset child support arrearages against the marital property distribution. [22]