Court Opinion

ID: 9843668
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:41:30.039363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:51.328428
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
The majority opinion affirms the trial court’s award of spousal support and property division. I join in those dispositions.
The majority reverses the trial court’s determination of child support and remands “for more accurate findings as to James’ gross and net monthly income.” The trial court found:
While Mr. Wolfs income may fluctuate somewhat, the Court finds that Mr. Wolf should consistently make over $45,000.00 annually and- that his net income after expenses for guideline purposes should be about $3,200.00 per month.
From those findings, the trial court correctly applied the guideline schedule in NDAC 75-02-04.1-10 and directed child support of $1,217 monthly for four children.
*746The majority declares the findings of $45,-000 gross income annually and $3,200 net monthly are “vague figures” although there was “adequate evidence ... admitted for the trial court to make a precise finding as to the gross and monthly net incomes, as the guidelines require,” and then declares the “trial court did not cite to any of [the] specific evidence or consider any specific deductions claimed by James.” The majority rules “[t]hese are not adequate findings under the child support guidelines.” I cannot agree here.
Though not cited in the majority opinion, the relevant guideline says:
Each child support order must include a statement of the net income of the obligor used to determine the child support obligation, and how that net income was determined.
NDAC 75-02-04.1-02(10). If Kathryn Wolf were appealing, I might agree that “over $45,000” and “about $3,200” would be too “vague” from this record that suggests James’ gross and net income was larger than that found, because James offered little or no evidence to support his itemized deductions of $15,026 on his 1994 income tax return that included $13,659 in unreimbursed employee expenses. Virtually no evidence was offered that these claimed employee expenses were “required as a condition of employment,” as NDAC 75 — 02—04.1—01(7)(f) and (h) require. Since Kathryn has not appealed, however, and since James is asserting that the income findings are too high, I do not understand the majority opinion. “Bright lines” may be desirable in child support findings, but it is difficult to imagine how they could be more vivid on this record.
The trial court’s findings square with the only satisfactory evidence of income and expenses in the record — Exhibit C, the 1994 Income Tax Return for James and Kathryn. Appropriately, Kathryn’s brief offered a standard child-support “worksheet” based on that 1994 tax return, although neither party apparently submitted a worksheet to the trial judge. Kathryn’s “worksheet” shows James’ share of the reported $58,431 income to-be $50,945, a federal income tax on it of $3,429, state income taxes of $480, and FICA taxes of $3,667, for an annual net of $43,339 and a monthly net of $3,614 that would schedule monthly child support of $1,368.
In my opinion, this computation is within the range of the only satisfactory evidence of James’ wage income and expenses, the 1994 tax return. Indeed, the trial court found slightly more favorable figures for James, $3,200 monthly net income and $1,217 monthly support, but Kathryn is not complaining.
James’ whole argument here is that his Exhibit 1, “profit and loss statement (unaudited)” for a partial 1995 year through November 7, 1995, was the “only evidence” of his recent income. In my opinion, the trial court did not need to give this fragmented and unsupported information any attention. NDAC 75-02-04.1-02(7) (part) directs:
Income must be documented through the use of tax returns, current wage statements, and other information sufficiently to fully apprise the court of all gross income.
Compare NDCC 14-09-08.6(l)(b) (for periodic review of child support, “[t]he obligor shall provide ... a verified copy of the latest income tax return, filed with the internal revenue service or any state official administering a state income tax, which accurately reports the obligor’s income for a fiscal year ending no more than seventeen months prior to the date of the review”). In my opinion, this “unaudited” list of $40,607 in income had little or no weight when it was unsupported by current wage statements or stubs and was only for part of a year, claimed “work-related” expenses over $11,060 without supporting documents or verification, claimed total taxes withheld of $8,417 (compared to less than $7,800 paid for the prior year with more income), and did not “annualize” 1995 income and expenses.
We have cautioned that a partial year’s documentation must be carefully weighed and need not be accepted. See Mahoney v. Mahoney, 538 N.W.2d 189, 195 (N.D.1995):
The averaging of a partial tax year with the prior, full year in the new clinic was error unless appropriate adjustments were made to the partial year to reflect only appropriate deductions, and to reflect the *747proportionate annual effect of deductions occurring unevenly throughout the year. The guidelines direct:
Income must be documented through the use of tax returns, current wage statements, and other information sufficiently to fully apprise the court of all gross income. Where gross income is subject to fluctuation, particularly in instances involving self-employment, information reflecting and covering a period of time sufficient to reveal the likely extent of fluctuations must be provided.
NDAC 75-02-04.1-02(7) (part; emphasis supplied). Our conclusion here is reinforced by the trial court’s specific finding that “it is likely that [Tim’s] income will steadily increase within the foreseeable future.” Therefore, we believe that the trial court should have used only Tim’s 1993 income from his tax returns and that it was clearly erroneous for the trial court to use calculations inconsistent with the guidelines to determine Tim’s net income.
Because I would affirm the trial court’s findings as sufficient for the evidence presented, I respectfully dissent from this reversal and remand “for more accurate findings.”