Court Opinion

ID: 9542023
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:30:43.935374+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:05:56.755668
License: Public Domain

Roe, J.
(concurring in part; dissenting in part) — I concur in the result of the majority opinion except that portion relating to the automatic percentage escalation of support for the minor child. Ample authorities support my position, *237as cited in the majority's footnote 4. Critical is the fact that there was no finding that support as presently ordered is inadequate. Presumably it is not; thus, this case must be distinguished from the many where a temporarily diminished amount is allowed to permit payment of creditors, recovery of health, or a job, etc. In such cases an adequate amount for support may simply be unavailable, and the courts will automatically escalate payments to an adequate level when it becomes feasible. Here the majority approves imposition of an automatic increase, unlimited in time, at a fixed percentage of the father's prospectively increased income, regardless of the child's needs, the mother's income, the father's possible subsequent remarriage and family or financial misfortune. In effect, the decree does not take into account his actual ability to pay. This seems to me to run counter to the statute. RCW 26.09.100 provides for apportionment of child support, and each parent should only pay an amount which is "reasonable or necessary." RCW 26.09.170 contemplates modification only as to installments accruing after a motion therefor, and "only upon a showing of substantial change of circumstances." (Italics mine.) The decree effectively assumes that the father's circumstances will substantially and favorably change in the future. It is no answer to say that the father can, when his income rises, come to court and show that his overall ability to pay has not improved. The burden here has been cast upon the wrong person.
The three Washington cases cited in the majority's footnote 5 do not aid its cause. Jensen v. Jensen, 54 Wn.2d 473, 341 P.2d 882 (1959) involved only support for the wife pursuant to a property settlement agreement. The issue of automatic acceleration was not before the court, which merely held that the monthly amount may be set as a percentage of salary. There is no quarrel with that proposition. Dillon v. Dillon, 21 Wn.2d 311, 150 P.2d 594 (1944) only concerned a downwards modification of alimony and support; the Supreme Court held that the trial court had not abused its discretion. Verde v. Verde, 78 Wn.2d 206, 471 *238P.2d 84 (1970) also involved an agreed-upon provision for escalation of support which did not have to be modified simply because the husband remarried. When the parties have agreed upon an escalation provision for support in a separation agreement, courts will approve it under RCW 26.09.070(7). This statute allows the parties to provide as they wish, but it does not apply to the instant case.
It must be clearly understood that my complaint is not with the concept of percentage support payments, but only with automatic percentage escalation in the future, without regard to need or ability to pay.
Reconsideration denied September 28, 1978.