Court Opinion

ID: 9629442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:42:59.913312+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:19.353830
License: Public Domain

*181CAVANAUGH, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
I agree with the majority that remand is required for calculation of the reasonable needs of the parties’ child. The record as developed in the lower court does not adequately demonstrate the expenses necessary to support a two-year old living with his mother and step-father.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that appellant’s current earnings rather than his earning capacity should form the basis of his ability to contribute towards the support of his son. The majority relies upon appellant’s pursuing further education for its finding that part-time employment is justified. Appellant has failed to show how his financial status as a medical doctor would be enhanced through his attainment of an academic degree in public health. Although the pursuit of this degree may be intellectually stimulating and the practice of medicine in the area of public health socially admirable, appellant has offered no evidence to support a claim that his current reduction in income is justified on the basis of a potential increase in income.
As noted by the majority, the general rule is that earning capacity, and not actual earnings, determines ability to pay support. Akers v. Akers, 373 Pa.Super. 1, 540 A.2d 269 (1988). This case presents no exception, despite appellant’s termination from his initial employment in Atlanta, since he explains his current part-time status in multiple hospitals as due to his furtherance of his education. The missing link, however, is that appellant has presented no evidence that would support the majority’s counter-intuitive argument that a career in public health is likely to be more financially rewarding than one as an emergency room doctor. For this reason I dissent from that part of the majority opinion which requires the trial court to consider actual earnings rather than earning capacity.