Opinion ID: 1289948
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The subsistence needs, work expenses, and daily living expenses of the obligor; ...

Text: N.D.A.C. § 75-02-04.1-09(1)(a). A hardship is defined as: Situations occur over which the obligor has little or no control, and which may substantially reduce the ability to pay child support for a prolonged time. If a continued or fixed expense, other than the obligor's living expenses, is actually incurred and paid, such as payments to restore a major casualty loss of property essential to living or to earning a livelihood, the amounts paid may be deducted from gross income to arrive at net income. N.D.A.C. § 75-02-04.1-06. The obligor's controllable living expenses are not hardships. Hallock v. Mickels, 507 N.W.2d 541, 545 (N.D.1993). Home mortgage payments and other household expenses are considered by the guidelines and cannot be further deducted from child support. Hallock. Terry Scherling may have difficulty maintaining her current standard of living and paying child support. This, however, is not different from an ordinary family that must forgo a comfortable lifestyle to raise children. Terry Scherling's budget, part of the record, contains items which could be reduced to pay for the house. Based on the guardian ad litem's testimony, she should make cuts in these other areas to maintain the marital home for Nicholas. The district court's findings are not clearly erroneous. Terry Scherling's house payments and expenses are not a hardship.