Opinion ID: 1160955
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of the added cost evidence

Text: The remaining question is whether, considering his hearsay evidence, Allan presented substantial evidence that his monthly cost for insuring his daughters was $339.20. The evidence on this point is essentially undisputed. Parks's affidavit establishes that Allan receives a Health and Welfare Plan (H & W) benefit from his employer of about $756 per month. This benefit is used by his union to purchase insurance for Allan and, at Allan's option, for his family. Allan's selection of the premium insurance plan, which extends coverage to his family, results in the entire H & W benefit being applied toward insurance coverage. But if Allan purchased health insurance for himself alone, forty-eight percent of his H & W benefit would be paid into his Money Purchase Pension Plan (MPPP), which becomes available to him upon retirement. Thus, were Allan to insure himself but not his family, the cost of his insurance would be about $393; the remaining $363 (forty-eight percent of $756) per month of his H & W benefit would be paid into his MPPP. Allan has selected the premium insurance, so that none of the H & W benefit goes into his MPPP. In so doing he forgoes a monthly benefit of about $363. [10] Carrie offered no conflicting evidence. Her only witness, Gregory Stokes, corroborated Parks's affidavit. Stokes testified that he was familiar with Allan's benefits package; he confirmed that if Allan did not insure the girls, a portion of Allan's H & W benefit would be paid into his MPPP. In fact, Carrie apparently did not call Stokes to dispute Allan's evidence concerning the increased cost of covering their two daughters. She presented his testimony only to make the point that Allan did not actually pay for this coveragethat his employer paid it. This was the heart of Carrie's opposition to Allan's motion below, and it is the core of her argument on appeal. Alaska Civil Rule 90.3(d)(1) permits a non-custodial parent to receive child support credit for providing court-ordered health insurance only if the insurance is actually paid by that parent. [11] According to Carrie, the cost of coverage is not actually paid by Allan, since his employer pays for the insurance. In Carrie's view, Allan would be entitled to receive credit only if he personally paid the costs or if they were reflected as deductions from his take-home pay. Allan responds that he does actually pa[y] for the insurance because he forgoes the benefit of future income in order to maintain the insurance. He contends that [m]oney put into his retirement is just as valuable as money put into his pocket every month.... Since retirement money is income to him, the loss of it due to a health insurance election for the children represents a very real cost to [him]. Allan has the better argument. Civil Rule 90.3(d)(1) allows Allan a credit for costs that he actually paid, but it does not expressly require that Allan pay those costs directly or out of his present take-home income. The Commentary to the rule provides some insight into the purpose of the actually paid requirement. It suggests that the rule mandates allocation of insurance payments only when there is actual cost imposed on the parent seeking a credit. [12] By opting for employer-funded insurance coverage over payments into a retirement plan, a non-custodial parent incurs a cost as real as the cost of paying directly. In keeping with the Commentary, we interpret Rule 90.3's actually paid requirement to include this situation. The record establishes that Allan paid an actual cost out of his future income stream in order to maintain his children's insurance. The record also establishes that this cost is approximately the amount that Allan asserted as the basis for requesting a child support credit. [13] Accordingly, we conclude that the superior court erred in finding that Allan failed to produce admissible evidence sufficient to support his claim for a child support credit. We nevertheless note that Allan's evidence on this point may not be conclusive. Although neither party addresses the issue, the record suggests that Allan has remarried and that his new spouse has a child. It therefore seems conceivable that Allan's added cost for insuring his family provides coverage not only for Kristen and Kaylee, but also for his new spouse and her daughter. [14] On remand, the court should resolve any remaining uncertainty on this point. Because Rule 90.3(d)(1) entitles Allan to a credit based only on his added costs for insuring Kristen and Kaylee, he should receive no credit for any added costs reflecting coverage of his new family members. The court may require Allan to produce additional evidence concerning his coverage. If the plan covers other family members, and evidence is unavailable on the incremental cost of insuring only Kristen and Kaylee, the court should determine Allan's costs for covering Kristen and Kaylee by spreading the total added cost of family coverage pro rata among all covered family members, and allocating to Carrie half of Kristen's and Kaylee's prorated costs.