Opinion ID: 1691849
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: private enforcement

Text: Kopp asserts the trial court should have dismissed Shaver's motion to review child support under NDCC 14-09-08.4 because Shaver, as a private individual and not a child support agency, was not entitled to use that procedure. NDCC 14-09-08.4(3) directs: If a child support order sought to be amended was entered at least one year before the filing of a motion or petition for amendment, the court shall order the amendment of the child support order to conform the amount of child support payment to that required under the child support guidelines, whether or not the motion or petition for amendment arises out of a periodic review of a child support order, and whether or not a material change of circumstances has taken place, unless the presumption that the correct amount of child support would result from the application of the child support guidelines is rebutted. If a motion or petition for amendment is filed within one year of the entry of the order sought to be amended, the party seeking amendment must also show a material change of circumstances. (Emphasis added). Even though this subdivision thus does not confine its application to a motion by a child support agency, Kopp contends that the numerous references to child support agency in other subdivisions of the statute convey an intent that a motion under subdivision 3 can be made only by a child support agency. We reject this argument. The plain language of NDCC 14-09-08.4(3) entitled a child support obligor to a review of his child support obligation without showing a material change of circumstances, the court of appeals held in O'Callaghan v. O'Callaghan, 515 N.W.2d 821, 823 (N.D.Ct. App.1994). So too, in Eklund v. Eklund, 538 N.W.2d 182, 186 (N.D.1995), we held that the legislature's 1993 inclusion of the phrase, whether or not the motion or petition for amendment arises out of a periodic review of a child support order, removed all preconditions for bringing a motion more than a year after an earlier order, except a request by an obligor or obligee. Although neither decision addressed the specific contention made by Kopp, those decisions clearly presage our conclusion today. Even if we were to agree with Kopp that NDCC 14-09-08.4(3) is ambiguous because of its placement among other subdivisions referring to a child support agency, we would decline to give it the meaning proposed by Kopp. When we construe an ambiguous statute to ascertain the legislature's intent, we may consider the legislative history of the statute. City of Fargo v. Ness, 529 N.W.2d 572, 575 (N.D.1995). The 1993 amendment to subsection 3 was intended to assure that the same process is available to all parties without regard to the involvement of child support officials. 1993 N.D. Sess. Laws Ch. 152, § 6; Hearing on House Bill 1181 before the House Human Services Committee, January 18, 1993, Written Testimony of Blaine Nordwall, at pp. 5-6. Furthermore, since Kopp's proposed construction might create constitutional questions of equal protection, see Rueckert v. Rueckert, 499 N.W.2d 863, 871 n. 5 (N.D.1993), we will construe the statute to avoid any constitutional conflict. Basin Elec. Power v. N.D. Workers Comp., 541 N.W.2d 685, 689 (N.D. 1996). We conclude that Shaver's motion to modify child support was statutorily authorized. To invoke this statutory provision, a movant must show only that the `child support order sought to be amended' was entered more than a year before the motion to amend was brought. Helbling v. Helbling, 541 N.W.2d 443, 445 (N.D.1995). Shaver did that here. The trial court correctly refused to dismiss Shaver's motion on this basis.