Court Opinion

ID: 9768537
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 06:07:47.543856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:41.779501
License: Public Domain

*599KAROHL, Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent because the trial court failed to follow the mandate of Rule 88.01. That rule directs the court to consider all relevant factors including “the financial resources and needs of the parents.” Rule 88.01(b). As a matter of law defendant is obligated to support his sixteen-year-old daughter. Dycus v. Cross, 869 S.W.2d 745, 750 (Mo. banc 1994). It is not possible to determine father’s financial resources and needs without consideration of the extent of his support obligation for his daughter. During the trial in the present case the trial court clearly expressed the view that as a matter of law the support of the daughter was not relevant. The source of that opinion may be either the format of Form 14 or a series of appellate cases, or both. The majority assumes ar-guendo that the trial court should consider non-court ordered support for another child not residing with the father as a relevant factor under Rule 88.01. It then affirms solely because father failed to offer evidence as to the nature and extent of the support and in the absence of that evidence this court cannot determine that the child support awarded for his son “would be unjust or inappropriate.”
Rejection of the appeal because of the absence of evidence regarding the support of defendant’s daughter is “unjust or inappropriate” for two reasons. First, during the trial the court repeatedly expressed the opinion that in the absence of a court order the support of the daughter was irrelevant and could not be considered. It made a finding of fact which related only to the absence of any evidence that father was supporting under a court order. The court made no finding regarding support for a daughter who recently left defendant’s home where his support was not under a court order. Second, defendant was asked how much he paid for the support of his daughter. When he began to answer the court interrupted with another question, “Is there any court order?” On this record we are obligated to review father’s claims of error on the merits or remand in order that the missing evidence can be supplied. The majority assumed, without support in the record, that the amount of the child support for son is not unfair or unjust to either defendant.or his sixteen-year-old daughter. That finding of fact would be a matter for the trial court, but was not considered by the trial court. It repeatedly expressed the opinion that the amount of child support paid to defendant’s daughter is irrelevant.
The opinion of the trial court that support of some children is irrelevant has support in Form 14 and in a series of appellate cases. They may be the cause of the error. Form 14 does not provide a place to record and to consider support for a child not residing with a parent where that support is not in response to a court or administrative order. Because of an obligation to support children the actual support of a child is relevant. The absence of a category on Form 14 for the support of a child not under court order does not make the evidence of actual support of all children irrelevant.
Some recent cases have drifted into the view Form 14 may be construed to exclude consideration of the support of another child not under court order. If those cases are construed to make such evidence irrelevant under Rule 88.01 then they should be reconsidered. The focus in each case was the requirement of filing a Form 14 to be a prerequisite to contesting the amount of child support ordered. No distinction is made in those cases between: (1) a claim of error that the amount of the award is excessive solely on the basis of evidence of ability to pay and need of child; and, (2) a claim of error that the trial court did not follow the mandate of Rule 88.01 and mechanically, but improperly, applied Form 14. There is, at least, confusion traceable to Ibrahim v. Ibrahim, 825 S.W.2d 391 (Mo.App.1992); Hackmann v. Hackmann, 847 S.W.2d 193 (Mo.App.E.D.1993); Division of Family Services v. Williams, 861 S.W.2d 592 (Mo.App.E.D.1993).
In Ibrahim, the court was asked to consider a claim that a $200 per month child support award was error because it did not conform with the provisions of Rule 88.01(e). Because father did not file a Form 14, the court concluded that a claim on appeal that the court erred in entering a child support *600award inconsistent with the form was “akin to pursuing a different theory for recovery on appeal than was pursued at trial.” Ibrahim, 825 S.W.2d at 398. The express basis of this comment was that the court would not review for error on an issue that was not before the trial court. In the present case, the issue of number of children and the need to consider the existence of two children as a relevant factor was before the trial court. Father’s counsel argued for the requirement that the court determine and consider that father was supporting his sixteen-year-old daughter. Further, in Ibrahim,- the only issue was the amount of the award, not whether the court mechanically committed an error in determining the amount of available income before utilizing the Schedule. Finally, there was no place on the original Form 14 to record information for support of a child not subject to court order and not in custody. The rationale of Ibrahim is not applicable to the present case where the appeal issue was a trial court issue on the same theory.
This court cited Ibrahim with approval in Hackmann v. Hackmann, 847 S.W.2d 193 (Mo.App.E.D.1993). In Hackmann, there were four issues proposed by father on appeal. The first three related to the amount of child support in an order to modify. On the basis of Ibrahim, father’s failure to file a Form 14 foreclosed review on those issues. However, the fourth issue was that the trial court failed to adjust the finding of available income for child support by considering support of father’s child he recently had with his second wife. For our purposes the issue was failure to adjust gross income by subtracting support for a new baby by second wife to determine the earnings figure to use on the Schedule. That issue was before the trial court in Hackmann. It did not constitute a different theory on appeal than was presented to the trial court and the nature of the claimed error was a miscalculation for failure to comply with the rule and the form, not an award not supported by the evidence. We held father’s claim of error was foreclosed for failure to file a Form 14. Hackmann, 847 S.W.2d at 194.
I find the additional child issue was not the same error ruled in Ibrahim, nor is there reason to exclude review of a claim the court mechanically erred in determining the available income figure to be applied to the Schedule. If the Ibrahim rule is applied to prevent review of a purely mechanical error then it would not be possible for a supporting parent to appeal an award of child support for one child, where the award is actually based on the figure provided in the Schedule for two children, merely because appellant did not file a Form 14. That result was not required by the Ibrahim decision and cannot be sustained.
In Division of Family Services, et al. v. Williams, 861 S.W.2d 592 (Mo.App.E.D.1993), this court considered a claim of error by father that the court failed to take into account his support for another child. We there observed that father testified he was paying $300 per month “voluntary ” support for another child, but did not provide any further evidence of these payments.1 We concluded that as a consequence the trial court need not consider support of other children if not done under an order. We also concluded that because father failed to file a Form 14 with the trial court he could not request review -of the child support award, citing Hackmann and Ibrahim.
During the trial father repeatedly urged the court to consider the support of the daughter. The claim of error on appeal is therefore precisely the same as that presented to the trial court. The record is sufficient to review the claim of error as a matter of law, to wit: whether the court erred in failing to include and consider the fact that defendant was supporting his sixteen-year-old daughter because that is a relevant factor under Rule 88.01. The State of Missouri, Division of Family Services is a plaintiff in this lawsuit. Understandably, they have never taken the position that the support of the daughter is not a relevant factor. DFS did not engage in any response to father’s position that it was a relevant factor or to *601expressions of the trial court that it was irrelevant.
I would reverse and remand to offer plaintiffs an opportunity to contest father’s paternity of the daughter and his support, if any. It was not necessary for them to oppose that evidence when the trial court considered his paternity and his support irrelevant. This would offer father an opportunity to answer the question as to how much he paid for the support of his daughter. With this evidence the court could comply with the requirement of Rule 88.01. Without this evidence it is impossible to determine that the award for Son is “just” or “unjust.” It is certain that the trial court did not comply with the requirements of Rule 88.01. For that reason it misapplied the law.

. Even if that was his testimony it was not accurate as a matter of law. Failure to support a child is a criminal offense.