Court Opinion

ID: 9737898
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:36:35.5232+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:02.422289
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in parts I, III, and IV of the majority opinion. I join in the special concurrence of Justice VandeWalle. I respectfully dissent from part II on allocation of the dependents tax exemptions.
I am left with a definite and firm conviction that the trial court erred in allocating all three dependents tax exemptions to Gerald. Caroline is contributing a much larger share to the care and support of her three children than Gerald, since she has their physical custody for the nine school months. Her economic contribution to their food, clothes, shelter, and other needs necessarily exceeds the modest $225 per month contributed by Gerald for those months, no doubt by a large margin. Caroline has the larger income as well. In fairness, she should be allocated at least one tax exemption, if not two.
Our blindness to the uneven allocation of dependents tax exemptions in this case is a continuation of the unrealistic judicial attitudes that has brought on federally dictated guidelines for child support. I would reverse the allocation of the dependents tax exemptions and remand for reconsideration on that issue.