Court Opinion

ID: 9728223
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:02:28.673067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:46.943760
License: Public Domain

DARDEN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent, but with the cave, at that I fully agree that the trial court has the authority to find and hold Father in contempt of its order and to appropriately sanction him.
At the outset, I am of the opinion that Father's conduct was eriminal; that he is undeserving of sympathy; that he deserves to be punished according to the law; and that his case deserves to be reviewed in a criminal court for possible eriminal charges for absconding with Brandon in the face of the trial court custody order awarding custody to Mother. It appears that Father may be tried on a criminal charge in that regard, however, and the result will surely constitute his legal punishment for committing a criminal act. However, the case before us is one of family law, and as the majority notes, is not "a typical case involving an arrearage." Op. at 1174. Under the circumstances of this case, I find that the trial court's order-that Mother receive the funds as ordered-is error.
Mother argued to the trial court, as she does on appeal, that Father should be granted no relief based on "the Unclean Hands doctrine," (Tr. 9), because he "came into the courtroom on January 9, 2009 with unclean hands." Appellee's Br. at 11. Yet in exercising its equitable jurisdiction, a trial court must always "seek[ ] to do justice, and not injustice." 12 LLE. Equity § 16 (2009). Thus, "equity looks beneath rigid rules to find substantial justice and has the power to prevent strict rules from working an injustice." Id. at § 3 (citing Doe v. Shults-Lewis Child and Family Servs., Inc., 718 N.E.2d 738 (Ind.1999)). Accordingly, as a matter of equity, the trial court must "do the right thing," regardless of the distasteful nature of Father's action.
The full financial impact of the trial court's February 2009 order is not clear from the majority opinion. In addition to the trial court's order that Father pay the December 1994 judgment amount of $7,447.00, Father was also ordered to pay $49,810.07 in accumulated interest thereon, for a total of $57,257.07, and interest accruing after May 2, 2006 (Brandon's twenty-first birthday) at a rate of 8% per an-num. Also, in addition to the trial court's judgment for an arrearage from December 8, 1994 through May 2, 2006 in the amount of $27,965.00, it ordered Father to pay interest accruing from that date at 8% per annum. Thus, it appears that the trial court's February 2009 order will require that Father pay Mother more than $100,000.00 for his failure to comply with its order regarding child support.
*1176Certainly the right to support lies exclusively with the child, and the custodial parent holds child support payments in trust for the child's benefit. See Bussert, 677 N.E.2d at 71. Accordingly, it seems to me that under the cireumstances herein, there must be some evidence presented by Mother of actual expenses that she incurred as a result of her custodial parent status, eg. expenses of her living arrangements during the relevant time period as related to accommodations for Brandon; her expenditures for food, medical, or educational expenses during the relevant time period on Brandon's behalf; ete. The majority postulates that Mother may have "maintained a home for Brandon should he be returned to her custody and made decisions for sixteen years based upon the possibility of his return," op. at 1174, but there is no evidence in this regard. At the outset of the hearing, the trial court offered Mother the opportunity "to present . evidence." (Tr. 4). She did not, and the majority notes that the trial court heard no evidence whatsoever as to any expenditure by Mother on behalf of Brandon. ("[Mother] expended no money in support of Brandon" from March 22, 1992 until he reached the age of majority. Op. at 1178).
Although I cannot find that the trial court's order exceeds the parameters of black-letter law, likewise I cannot find it to be an equitable order based upon the circumstances here. It is undisputed that Father fed, clothed, sheltered, and cared for Brandon for all the years they were missing, and while it may not be proper to fully credit him for those expenses in the ultimate determination of his legal liability for child support, I find the order appealed to constitute an unwarranted windfall for Mother. As a result, I would reverse and remand for the trial court to hear evidence of actual expenses and/or expenditures that Mother incurred on Brandon's behalf as the custodial parent during the relevant time period, or to further consider Father's argument that past-due child support should be deposited into a trust for the benefit of Brandon.