Opinion ID: 883193
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: issues

Text: Did the District Court abrogate the benefit received by Kenneth from his discharge in a federal bankruptcy proceeding? Kenneth has provided the Court with a lengthy argument on this first issue which essentially contends that the District Court substituted an increase in support from $200 per month to $400 and $475 per month for an award of maintenance, which was barred by the two-year limitation period set forth in § 40-4-208(2)(a), MCA, and for amounts which Debra has been forced to pay on the second mortgage obligation to Beneficial Mortgage Co. which was discharged in his bankruptcy proceeding. According to Kenneth, he is now being forced to pay maintenance and to pay for a debt that has been discharged in his bankruptcy proceeding by way of an unfounded increase in support for his son. Debra moved for both increased support and an award of maintenance. The District Court denied her motion for maintenance and granted her motion to increase support. The amount of the child support award is addressed separately in Issue II below. The record does not support Kenneth's argument that the District Court substituted child support for the Beneficial loan which was discharged in Kenneth's bankruptcy proceeding. Kenneth's argument that the increase in his support obligation is a substitute for maintenance or debt is similar to that presented and rejected by this Court in In re the Marriage of Jones (1990), 242 Mont. 119, 122-23, 788 P.2d 1351, 1353-54. In that case, the husband argued that he was being penalized by the court for using proper bankruptcy procedures in discharging a $43,594 debt to the wife and that the court erred by increasing a maintenance award because the debt to the wife had been discharged in the husband's bankruptcy action. In Marriage of Jones, this Court concluded that substantial credible evidence supported the award of maintenance and that the maintenance was not a mere substitute for the husband's debt to the wife. Similarly, we conclude here that Kenneth is not being penalized for using procedures under the Bankruptcy Code to obtain a new start. His argument relating to the bankruptcy is simply not applicable to the circumstances of this appeal. The Bankruptcy Act at 11 U.S.C. § 523 does not allow a debtor to discharge obligations for child support or for income taxes, the obligations we are concerned with in this appeal. As discussed below, an increase in child support is justified at the discretion of the District Court upon a showing of a substantial and continuing change of circumstances. Section 40-4-208(2)(b)(i), MCA; Marriage of Jones, 788 P.2d at 1354. We hold the District Court did not abrogate the benefit received by Kenneth from his discharge in the federal bankruptcy proceeding.