Court Opinion

ID: 9657258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:18:23.743144+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:42.582975
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
concurring specially.
In Fleck v. Fleck, 427 N.W.2d 355, 359 (N.D.1988), we held that the trial court may *558allocate the income tax dependency exemption and may order the custodial parent to execute waiver forms. Fleck was an appeal from a divorce judgment. The instant case involves a modification of a divorce judgment. I agree that the trial court has the authority to modify a divorce judgment by including a provision covering the dependency exemption. This is so because the exemption is so clearly aligned with child support and custody, that it is properly considered to be support rather than property and is, therefore, under traditional analysis, subject to modification. See In re Marriage of Lovetinsky, 418 N.W.2d 88, 90 (Iowa Ct.App.1987) (tax exemption is part of child support issue); Tapman v. Tapman, 544 A.2d 1265, 1267 (Me.1988) (income tax exemption is noncash support issue); Fudenberg v. Molstad, 390 N.W.2d 19, 21 (Minn.Ct.App.1986) (awarding tax exemption will increase income to which support guidelines apply); Niederkorn v. Niederkorn, 616 S.W.2d 529, 533 (Mo.Ct.App.1981) (tax exemption award is nearly identical in nature to an order that the other party pay a sum equal to the value of the exemption as child support); Cross v. Cross, 363 S.E.2d 449, 459 (W.Va.1987) (circuit court may allocate dependency exemption for tax purposes as part of decision about child support awards). But see Hughes v. Hughes, 35 Ohio St.3d 165, 518 N.E.2d 1213, 1216 (1988) (dependency exemption may be awarded as part of marital property in divorce proceeding). It remains for the trial court to decide whether there has been a change of circumstances sufficient to warrant modification.
I therefore concur in the majority opinion.