Opinion ID: 2632896
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Length of Abatement Period

Text: [¶ 22] In his claim for abatement, Father requested that credit be given for the dates of June 11, 2005, through August 22, 2005. Mother objected to that time period, asserting that Father was only entitled to abate his support through August 7, 2005, because the children were in her care from August 8, 2005, through August 15, 2005. Due to this gap in Father's visitation period, she contends that Father cannot claim abatement through August 22, 2005. [¶ 23] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 20-2-305(a) sets forth the amount of time a non-custodial parent must have the children in his or her care before a proper claim for abatement may be made. [3] In that regard, the statute provides that child support shall abate by one-half (1/2) of the daily support obligation for each day the noncustodial parent has physical custody for fifteen (15) or more consecutive days. The statute further provides that [f]or the purposes of computing abatement and determining whether the noncustodial parent has met the consecutive day requirement of this subsection, overnight and weekend visits with the custodial parent during the period for which abatement is claimed shall be disregarded. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 20-2-305(a). [¶ 24] In this case, it is not disputed that Mother had the children in her care from August 8, 2005, through August 15, 2005. This time period is longer than the overnight or weekend visits the statute permits to be disregarded. Accordingly, Father was required to have the children for another consecutive fifteen (15) days after they were returned to his care on August 15, 2005, in order to properly claim abatement for that time. He did not meet the requisite amount of time and, therefore, it was improper to abate his support after August 8, 2005. [¶ 25] Father urges us to find that Mother's one week visitation is akin to a weekend visit and thus does not interrupt the period of calculating Father's abatement. However, we are bound by the plain language of the statute, which defines what may be considered a weekend visit. The statute provides: For purposes of this section, `weekend' means any two (2) consecutive days, except if a legal holiday precedes or follows the days constituting a weekend under this section the weekend shall consist of three (3) days. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 20-2-305(h). The statute does not permit the district court to disregard longer periods of time. The omission of words from a statute is considered to be an intentional act by the Legislature, and [we] will not supply words in the process of interpretation. Fullmer v. Wyoming Employment Sec. Comm'n., 858 P.2d 1122, 1124 (Wyo.1993). We conclude that the district court erred by allowing Father's claim for abatement beyond August 8, 2005.