Court Opinion

ID: 9664500
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:19:55.486685+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:06.708526
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
concurring specially.
I agree that this case should be remanded for a redetermination of the amount of child support because we cannot be sure that the trial court actually exercised its discretion in setting the amount of child support rather than relying exclusively on the improperly promulgated guidelines. Having said that, I believe that one of the reasons we have legislative “guidelines” is because of the perception that judge-made child support awards have been disparate and inadequate. See Lenore J. Weitzman, The Divorce Revolution, 321 (1985) (ch. 9 “Child Support: The National Disgrace”).
The guidelines which we ruled invalid in Illies v. Illies, 462 N.W.2d 878 (N.D.1990), nonetheless represent a view, some would say the enlightened view, about a reasonable scale for child support. The invalidation of these guidelines because of their imperfect promulgation should not send the wrong message to trial courts. The mere fact that there is no guideline mandating the payment of $451.00 a month in child support does not preclude the trial court from determining on remand that $451.00 a month in child support is fair and reasonable if supported by the evidence presented, viewing that evidence in a light most favorable to the child’s needs, considering the actual present costs of raising a child. Obviously, the financial status of each parent weighs heavily in the equation but any doubt should be resolved in favor of the child. That is the least the courts should do. Perhaps the change in emphasis that I am espousing will improve the data underlying the conclusion drawn by Weitzman that “when income is compared to needs, divorced men experience an average 42 percent rise in their standard of living in the first year after the divorce, while divorced women (and their children) experience a 73 percent decline.” Weitzman, supra at 323.
MESCHKE, J., joined.