Opinion ID: 2635204
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Further Factual Findings Are Required To Ascertain Whether Tahni's 2006 Income Supported a Reduction in Her Child Support Obligation.

Text: Douglas argues that Tahni was capable of maintaining an income to support the pre-modification level of child support and that her income level did not warrant a reduction in her child support obligation. CSSD responds that the superior court had broad discretion to evaluate Tahni's financial situation and that the superior court's finding that a modification was warranted was not clearly erroneous. The superior court based its reduction of Tahni's child support obligation on a projected gross income estimate of $16,000 for 2006. [10] In her child support guidelines affidavit, Tahni explained that this figure was based on the approximately $12,000 that she made between January 2006 and July 2006, plus a liberal estimate of $4,000 for July through December. But the validity of this second, estimated figure is not apparent from the record. In 2005 Tahni had a gross income of $24,801.55. Deducting the $3,604 of unemployment benefits she collected that year, she still generated approximately $21,200 through her employment in 2005. In 2006 she made approximately $12,000 in seven months, which over the course of a year would have totaled approximately $20,570  about the same amount she made through work in 2005. Tahni's estimate of $4,000 in earnings for the last five months of 2006 is problematic, even in light of the loss of her position as a medical coding auditor, since a job paying the minimum wage would generate more than $4,000 of income in five months. In light of these issues, and because the superior court did not make precise findings regarding Tahni's 2006 income, [11] we cannot determine whether the superior court erred in reducing Tahni's child support obligation. We remand for further factual findings to ascertain whether Tahni's 2006 income warranted the reduction. [12]