Court Opinion

ID: 9789599
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:38:59.796339+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:23.428289
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
The modification of the decree to place Kelly with her mother is sustainable under the statements of the Court in Poesy v. Bunney, 98 Idaho 258, 561 P.2d 400 (1977). This change, if properly handled by both parents, should enure to Kelly’s benefit.
No matter what position the mother of Kelly might take as to child support, I consider the trial court was correct in directing Kelly’s father to contribute toward her support. Such a proposition is the statutory law of this State, and above that, it is a fundamental obligation of parenthood. Nothing prevents Mr. Cope from seeking support from Mrs. Cope for support of the other child, Rick.
As to the amount of child support which the trial court allowed, I submit that one hundred dollars for a father to contribute toward the support of his daughter is ordinarily a nominal amount. I submit also that the district judges, who have been recognized by this Court as capable and competent, by reason of their wisdom and experience, to set attorneys fees in certain situations without the necessity of evidence, Dykstra v. Dykstra, 94 Idaho 797, 800, 498 P.2d 1270 (1972), and Flynn v. Allison, 97 Idaho 618, 549 P.2d 1065 (1976), are equally or better able to enter nominal support orders without the requirement of evidence pro and con. That is not to say that such is also the case when something more than an order for a nominal amount of support is to be entered. And certainly a parent who claims an inability to pay a nominal amount should be given an opportunity to show his financial situation.
I suggest, too, my understanding that the Court’s reversal of the order for child support does not preclude Kelly’s mother from now making the showing the Court finds fatally absent.