Opinion ID: 2022305
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: The marriage of appellant Mark Nill and appellee Karen (Nill) Martin ended in dissolution during October 1990. The trial court gave Karen Martin custody of the couple's three minor children, George, Bryan, and Daniel. It ordered Mark Nill to pay $2,100 per month for support of the three boys in what the Indiana Court of Appeals determined was an order in gross. While visiting their father, all three boys were involved in a serious automobile accident on December 29, 1992. George and Bryan were injured severely enough to require medical treatment, and the youngest boy, Daniel, was killed. In January 1993 Mark Nill made his usual $2,100 payment. Sometime in February 1993, Mark Nill talked to Karen Martin about reducing child support payments in the aftermath of Daniel's death. (R. at 152.) On his own initiative, he decreased the support payment to $1,500 for February 1993. (R. at 152-153, 205-06.) In March, Karen Martin's lawyer sent Mark Nill a letter agreeing to accept support of $1,677 per month. (R. at 152-153, 205-06.) There is conflict in the record about when payment of the new support amount was to be effective. [1] The new agreement was informal; it was not submitted for court action. About a year later, on March 24, 1994, Karen Martin filed a petition to modify, later amended and supplemented. Karen Martin asked the court to order Mark Nill to contribute toward the college expenses of their eldest son Bryan, and to pay any child support arrearage. Mark Nill responded with his own petition for modification. He contended that Daniel's death was a change of circumstances which required a change in the support amount. He also sought a determination of responsibility for Bryan's college expenses. The trial court issued a modified order which recognized that informal agreements modifying child support cannot alter the legal obligations of court decrees. It nevertheless found that equity dictates that the court enforce and adopt this order as though the court had previously approved it. (R. at 66.) It also disposed of other issues raised by the petitions of the parties. Each side appealed. The Court of Appeals considered whether the trial court: 1) erred in giving legal effect to the parties' modification agreement, pertinent to computing Mark Nill's child support arrearage; 2) erred in ordering Mark Nill to pay both child support and college expenses; 3) erred in computing orthodontia expenses; and 4) erred in awarding Karen Martin attorney fees. Nill v. Martin, 666 N.E.2d 936, 937-38 (Ind.Ct.App. 1996). We grant transfer to consider the first issue: whether the trial court erred in finding that the original support order had been effectively modified by the couple's informal agreement. As to the remaining issues, we summarily affirm the Court of Appeals. Ind. Appellate Rule 11(B)(3).