Opinion ID: 1880820
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the chancellor's factual findings were sufficiently supported by an evidentiary record to warrant a departure from the statutory child support guidelines.

Text: ¶ 6. This State's general statutory guidelines for determining an appropriate award of child support state in relevant part: (1) The following child support award guidelines shall be a rebuttable presumption in all judicial or administrative proceedings regarding the awarding or modifying of child support awards in this state: Percentage Of Adjusted Number Of Children Gross Income That Should Due Support Be Awarded For Support 1 14% 2 20% 3 22% 4 24% 5 or more 26% (2) The guidelines provided for in subsection (1) of this section apply unless the judicial or administrative body awarding or modifying the child support award makes a written finding or specific finding on the record that the application of the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case as determined under the criteria specified in Section 43-19-103. . . . . (4) In cases in which the adjusted gross income as defined in this section is more than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) or less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), the court shall make a written finding in the record as to whether or not the application of the guidelines established in this section is reasonable. Miss.Code Ann. § 43-19-101 (Rev.2004). ¶ 7. This Court has noted that this statutory guideline does not control per se the amount of a child support award. Clausel, 714 So.2d at 267. Rather, the specific award amount must be set by the chancellor, who has special knowledge of the actual circumstances in each case. McEachern v. McEachern, 605 So.2d 809, 814 (Miss.1992). However, for this Court to affirm an award which deviates from the guideline of Section 43-19-101(1), the chancellor must overcome the rebuttable presumption that the statutory award is the appropriate measure of child support by making an on-the-record finding that it would be unjust or inappropriate to apply the guidelines in the instant case. Id. ¶ 8. The criteria for determining if deviation from the statutory guideline in Section 43-19-101 is appropriate are found in Miss.Code Ann. § 43-19-103 (Rev.2004), and require a chancellor to consider: (a) Extraordinary medical, psychological, educational or dental expenses. (b) Independent income of the child. (c) The payment of both child support and spousal support to the obligee. (d) Seasonal variations in one or both parents' incomes or expenses. (e) The age of the child, taking into account the greater needs of older children. (f) Special needs that have traditionally been met within the family budget even though the fulfilling of those needs will cause the support to exceed the proposed guidelines. (g) The particular shared parental arrangement, such as where the noncustodial parent spends a great deal of time with the children thereby reducing the financial expenditures incurred by the custodial parent, or the refusal of the noncustodial parent to become involved in the activities of the child, or giving due consideration to the custodial parent's homemaking services. (h) Total available assets of the obligee, obligor and the child. (i) Any other adjustment which is needed to achieve an equitable result which may include, but not be limited to, a reasonable and necessary existing expense or debt. Additionally, this Court has stated that in determining the appropriateness of an award of child support, the chancellor should consider all circumstances relevant to the needs of the children and the capacities of the parents. McEachern, 605 So.2d at 814. ¶ 9. Mitch challenges the chancellor's finding that departure from the statutory guidelines was appropriate here and argues that six of her findings were not supported by a sufficient evidentiary record to justify her decision. The first finding with which Mitch takes issue required him to pay for one-half of all of Aimee's costs associated with her attendance at private school, under subsection (a) of § 43-13-103, regarding extraordinary medical psychological, educational or dental expenses. ¶ 10. Mitch contends that a father's decision to send his daughter to private school was an extraordinary expense not contemplated in the statutory guidelines. See Southerland II, 875 So.2d at 207. Additionally, he cites to Hensarling, 824 So.2d at 588, where this Court affirmed the chancellor's decision to require the non-custodial father to pay for his children's private school expenses, where he had a substantial income compared to his ex-wife's minimal income. Mitch, however, argues that his situation is distinguishable from that in Hensarling because here, he and his ex-wife earn a comparable salary, [5] unlike the parties in Hensarling. He maintains that Cindy has adequate financial resources to pay for Aimee's private school education and argues that his agreement to send a child to private school is an inadequate basis for a support award that exceeds the statutory guidelines. See Southerland v. Southerland, 816 So.2d 1004, 1007 (Miss.2002) (Southerland I) . Though an agreement, without more, may be insufficient to warrant an award that includes private school tuition, this Court has upheld a chancellor's order requiring a father to pay private school tuition where the chancellor found he was able to meet the expense financially. Southerland II, 875 So.2d at 207. ¶ 11. The chancellor found that the Chesneys indicated that they wanted their daughters to attend private school, that Mitch stipulated that Aimee should continue in private school, that Cindy was financially unable to continue sending Aimee to private school by herself, and that Mitch had sufficient income to pay for part of Aimee's schooling. Additionally, the chancellor found that it would be unfair to remove Aimee from the Lamar School, the only school she had ever attended, now that she was in high school. These findings are sufficient to rebut the presumption that the statutory guideline is the appropriate measure of child support in this situation. ¶ 12. A second finding, which Mitch challenges, is reflected in the chancellor's statement: There are no extraordinary medical needs, but Mr. Chesney is fortunate enough not to have to pay for Aimee's health insurance. It is a benefit to him in lieu of higher pay. The higher pay he would receive in lieu of this benefit would be figured into his adjusted gross income and would result in higher child support. ¶ 13. Mitch contends that this finding is insufficient to justify an increase in child support on the ground that it is an extraordinary medical expense under § 43-19-103(a). The chancellor made this finding not as a justification to support a monthly child support award that exceeded statutory guidelines but rather to support her original decision, articulated in the Judgment of September 11, 2000, to require Mitch to maintain health insurance on his minor children because it costs him no out-of-pocket expenses to provide this benefit to his children. We accordingly find that Mitch's challenge to this finding is without merit. ¶ 14. Mitch challenges the sufficiency of a third finding, which he claims the chancellor made pursuant to § 43-19-103(c), concerning the payment of both child support and spousal support to the obligee. This finding essentially stated that the appellate courts' reversal of Cindy's alimony award reduced her financial resources and required her to rely totally on her wages and the child support she receives from Mr. Chesney for the support of the minor children. Mitch argues that the reversal of the alimony award is insufficient, standing alone, to justify additional child support. He also claims that this finding is inaccurate, based on the mention of minor children,  because only Aimee is a minor child, the older two daughters now being emancipated adults. ¶ 15. Mitch offers no case law to challenge the sufficiency of this finding. Rather, he relies only on his assertion that the chancellor did not adequately justify her deviation from the child support guidelines. Mitch has cited no authority to suggest that this is not a matter within the chancellor's discretion, especially in light of this Court's statement that a chancellor should evaluate the reasonable need of the child, the financial resources and reasonable needs of each parent, and  any other relevant factor shown by the evidence in fashioning a child support award. Cupit v. Cupit, 559 So.2d 1035, 1037 (Miss.1990) (emphasis added). The fact that Mitch now has more disposable income than he would if he were paying alimony constitutes any other relevant factor for the chancellor's consideration. This finding was sufficiently supported by an evidentiary record to justify the chancellor's deviation from the statutory guidelines. ¶ 16. Mitch challenges a fourth finding which addressed various expenses for Aimee, notably clothing, grooming, and sports activities. The chancellor noted that during the marriage Mitch's portion of the family income had been used to purchase, maintain, and insure vehicles for his older daughters when they reached driving age. Mitch charges that the chancellor failed to state how much Aimee's clothing expenses would actually be and argues that the $83.50 he was required to pay for grooming, gifts, and cosmetics was not enough to warrant his payment of additional expenses. ¶ 17. Mitch argues that his situation is similar to that of the father in Cupit, where this Court found that the award of $400.00 per month for child support is clearly excessive and wholly ignores the reasonable and necessary needs of the children as well as the ability of the father to pay, thus rendering the award manifestly wrong. Id. at 1038. However, Mitch fails to acknowledge that we deemed the award in Cupit excessive because Mr. Cupit only netted $973.60 per month before being required to pay the $400 of child support and was ordered to pay several debts incurred during the marriage and one-half of all taxes and insurance on the family's home. Id. at 1037-38. Despite Mitch's argument to the contrary, the Opinion and Judgment in the instant case reflects that the chancellor did, in fact, look at Mitch's income and made specific findings regarding the needs of the Chesneys' children. ¶ 18. Miss.Code Ann. § 43-19-103 allows the chancellor to take into account the greater needs of older children in subsection (e), the special needs that have usually been met within the family budget in subsection (f), the total assets of the parties in subsection (h), and any other judgment necessary for an equitable result. In the instant case, the chancellor considered the income Mitch made at the time of trial in 2000, $45,852.00, and the income he reported in both 2001 and 2002, $70,471.17 and $59,185.00 respectively, as an indication of Mitch's ability to support his minor child at a level above the statutory guidelines. Additionally, the chancellor found that Mitch had the ability to work overtime and was eligible for periodic raises, which would indicate that he was capable of shouldering a greater award of child support, while finding that Cindy was not able to work overtime and was not guaranteed a raise. The chancellor also listed specific monthly expenses which Cindy incurred in supporting her daughters. ¶ 19. Thus, the record reflects that the chancellor, within her discretion, considered Mitch's financial resources, looked at Aimee's normal activities and the expenses her parents incurred on her behalf prior to the divorce, and determined that she should not be deprived of her accustomed way of living in the future solely because of her father's unwillingness to contribute to those expenses. This finding is sufficient to justify the chancellor's deviation from the statutory child support guidelines. ¶ 20. Mitch takes issue with a fifth finding made by the chancellor, which he claims was made in accordance with the shared parental arrangement factor of § 43-19-103(g). The chancellor's finding mentioned that Mitch is now dating another woman, has reduced the amount of time spent with his daughters, and failed to help with the cost of his oldest daughter's wedding, an indication of his unwillingness to spend extra time and money on his other minor children. Mitch contends that the chancellor is biased against him and that this finding fails to reflect the fact that he now lives in another state and that his two adult daughters now have their own lives. He claims that present circumstances, rather than a lack of interest, are why he does not spend as much time with his daughters. He also notes that this finding is unfair in light of the fact that he has been timely in making his child support payments. ¶ 21. Whether the chancellor's statement was fair or not, Mitch has little cause to challenge its accuracy. The record does reflect that Mitch does not spend as much time with his daughters as he did previously, for whatever reason, and that he did not help in paying for his daughter's wedding. The chancellor is entitled to consider these facts, under § 43-19-103, in deciding to deviate from the statutory guidelines. Since there is evidence in the record to support these findings of fact, they were not made in error. Therefore, the chancellor did not err in making this particular finding or weighing it to support her ultimate decision. ¶ 22. Mitch challenges a sixth of the chancellor's findings regarding his ability to pay more child support than the statutory guidelines. However, he raises no new issues with this argument, but merely continues to assert that the finding was insufficient to support a deviation from the statutory guidelines. We, therefore, find that his challenge to this finding is without merit.