Court Opinion

ID: 9782045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 17:52:53.00025+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:45.375774
License: Public Domain

BARKER, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
¶34 I agree that the adoption subsidy should not be a credit that is applied to child support. I also agree that it is not an entitlement of either parent. It is quite clear to me, however, that the adoption subsidy should be attributed as income for purposes of calculating child support to whichever parent receives it. Thus, I dissent as to those portions of the foregoing opinion that hold otherwise.4

1. Under Arizona’s Guidelines and Laws, the Adoption Subsidy Should Be Attributed as Income to the Receiving Parent for Purposes of Calculating Child Support.

¶ 35 The Arizona Child Support Guidelines are based on an “Income Share Model.” Arizona Child Support Guidelines (Guidelines), Background, A.R.S. § 25-320, app. (2000).5 The Income Share Model is premised on the principle that the court calculates a total child support amount. Id. That total child support amount is to approximate “the amount that would have been spent on the children if the parents were living together.” Id. Each parent then contributes his or her proportionate share. Id. This court has previously recognized that underlying principle:
[TJotal [child] support is to approximate the amount that would have been spent on the children if the parents and children were still living together.
Cummings v. Cummings, 182 Ariz. 383, 385, 897 P.2d 685, 687 (App.1994). The legislature has also specifically directed that a “relevant factor” in determining child support is the “standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved.” A.R.S. § 25-320(A).
¶ 36 Guideline 4(a), dealing with the “determination of the gross income of the parents,” makes it clear that “[g]ross income includes income from any source [.]” (Emphasis added.) See also In re Marriage of Robinson and Thiel, 201 Ariz. 328, 331, 35 P.3d 89, 92 (App.2001)(“ ‘[G]ross income’ for purposes of calculating a parent’s child support obligation ‘includes income from any source[.]’ ’’Xquoting Guideline 4(a)). Guideline 4(a) then lists a number of examples which are specifically designated as not being exclusive (“may include”).
¶ 37 Additionally, Guideline 4(b) provides that “[g]ross income does not include sums received as child support or benefits received from means-tested public assistance programs[.]” (Emphasis added.) As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) written policy statement provides, “the use of a means test is prohibited” in determining whether an adoption subsidy will be paid:
Title IV-E adoption assistance is not based upon a standard schedule of itemized needs and countable income----[T]he use of a means test is prohibited in the process *349of selecting a suitable adoptive family, or negotiating an adoption assistance agreement, including the amount of the adoption assistance payment.
Subsidy Policy Announcement: Admin. On Children, Youth & Families (HHS Policy Announcement), Amount of Adoption Assistance Payments (Dep’t Health & Human Servs. Jan. 23, 2001), available at http://www. adopting. org/SubsidyPolicy012312.html (emphasis added). The federal regulations pertaining to adoption subsidies are even more specific in this regard:
There must be no income eligibility requirement (means test) for the prospective adoptive parent(s) in determining eligibility for adoption assistance payments.
45 CFR § 1356.40(c). Thus, Guideline 4(b) does not exclude the adoption subsidy as income.
¶ 38 As to the proposition that the tax law does not consider an adoption subsidy to be income (and therefore we should not do so for purposes of calculating child support), the Guidelines specifically direct otherwise. Guideline 4 provides that “[t]erms such as ‘Gross Income’ and ‘Adjusted Gross Income’ as used in these guidelines do not have the same meaning as when they are used for tax purposes.’’ Guideline 4, Note (emphasis added); see also Baker v. Baker, 183 Ariz. 70, 71, 900 P.2d 764, 765 (App.1995)(relying on Guideline 4 that “ ‘Gross Income’ and ‘Adjusted Gross Income,’ as they are used in the Guidelines, do not mean the same as they do for tax purposes.”). Thus, the tax treatment of adoption subsidies has no bearing on how we should treat them for purposes of calculating child support.
¶ 39 Attributing the adoption subsidy as income to the receiving parent does not make it an entitlement of the parents, nor does it make it a credit; rather it gives the subsidy its necessary role in the context of determining child support. It is undisputed in this case that the annual adoption subsidy of $32,-2086 was available and used for the children prior to the divorce. It is undisputed that the $32,208 is available for the children and being received by one of the parents after the divorce. Thus, applying the threshold principle that, if possible, income post-divorce approximate income pre-divorce, the adoption subsidy should be considered as income to the receiving parent for purposes of calculating child support. To not include it wreaks havoc on the foundation and fairness of any child support calculation where an adoption subsidy is at issue.7

2. The Adoption Subsidy is Not “Income of a Child” for Purposes of Calculating Child Support.

¶ 40 Guideline 238 expressly deals with “income of a child.” It provides that “[l][i]n-come earned or [2] money received by a child from sources other than child support shall not relieve a parent of the support obligation established by these guidelines.” Id. (Emphasis added.) If monies fall within this category, they should not be considered in determining child support.
¶41 Considering the adoption subsidy as income to the parent does not “relieve the parent” of any support obligations. That is the flaw in father’s faulty argument. Considering the adoption subsidy as a credit would relieve a parent of his or her support obligation. Thus, considering the adoption subsidy as income to the receiving parent does not run afoul of this aspect of Guideline 23.9
¶ 42 More fundamentally, however, the adoption subsidy is simply not (1) “income earned ... by a child” or (2) “money received by a child.” The adoption subsidy is *350neither income that the child has “earned” nor money that the child “receives.” It is a subsidy from the government paid to the parents, by agreement, to promote the adoption and to be used by the parent for the benefit of the child. Both the federal statute that authorizes the payment and the related authorities clearly show the subsidy does not fit under either of these two prongs of Guideline 23.
¶ 43 First, the adoption subsidy is not “income earned” by a child. In order to qualify for the adoption subsidy the state must determine
that there exists ... a specific factor or condition ... because of which it is reasonable to conclude that the child cannot be placed with adoptive parents without providing adoption assistance [.]
42 U.S.C. § 673(c)(2)(A)(emphasis added). Thus, the federal statute shows that the subsidy must be necessary in order to bring about the adoption. As the majority accurately notes, the adoption subsidy is a benefit “intended for the care and maintenance of the child.” Supra at ¶ 16 (relying on A.E. v. J.I.E., 179 Misc.2d 663, 686 N.Y.S.2d 613, 614-15 (1999)). The child does not earn it.
¶ 44 Second, the adoption subsidy is not received by the child nor was it intended that the child would determine how it is spent. The HHS Policy Announcement makes it clear that the purpose of the subsidy is to “combine with” the income of the parents to benefit the child:
[T]he title IV-E adoption assistance program is intended to encourage an action that will be a lifelong social benefit to certain children and not to meet short-term monetary needs during a crisis. ... The payment that is agreed upon should combine with the parents’resources to cover the ordinary and special needs of the child projected over an extended period of time and should cover anticipated needs [•]
HHS Policy Announcement, Amount of Adoption Assistance Payments. As stated, the very purpose of the subsidy is to provide for the needs of the child. It is paid to the parents for that purpose. Id. The parents, however, have great discretion in how the funds are used to meet those needs:
Once the adoption assistance agreement is signed and the child is adopted, the adoptive parents are free to make decisions about expenditures on behalf of the child without further agency approval or oversight. Hence, once an adoption assistance agreement is in effect, the parents can spend the subsidy in any way they see fit to incorporate the child into their lives. Since there is no itemized list of approved expenditures for adoption assistance, the State cannot require an accounting for the expenditures.
Id. (emphasis in original). As the express terms of the HHS Policy Announcement indicate, “the adoptive parents are free to make decisions about expenditures on behalf of the child” with this subsidy. Id. (emphasis added). It is the parent, not the child, who both receives the monies and determines how they are spent. Thus, the adoption subsidy does not qualify under the second part of Guideline 23 as “money received by a child.”
¶ 45 Guideline 23 is simply not applicable here. The adoption subsidy is not income of a child.10 The adoption subsidy, in the words of the HHS Policy Announcement, “should combine with the parents resources to cover the ordinary and special needs of the child.” Id. That is not a definition of income due to the child that is to be “stockpiled” until the child reaches a majority, or to be spent in whatsoever manner the child wishes, or monies for which a trustee’s accounting is held. It is a definition of income to be used by the receiving parent for the benefit of the child. It should accordingly be attributed as income to the receiving parent in determining child support, regardless of which parent receives it.

Conclusion

¶46 As the Guidelines clearly state, the purpose of the Guidelines is to calculate a *351“ ‘total child support amount’ that approximates the amount that would have been spent on the children if the parents were living together.” Guidelines, Background. As Arizona’s statutes expressly require, one of the key factors in determining child support is “the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not been dissolved.” A.R.S. § 25-320(A)(3). The HHS Policy Announcement further directs that the adoption subsidy “combine with the parents resources” to meet the child’s needs.
¶47 Because the majority’s decision violates the express purpose of § 25-320(A)(3), the Guidelines, and the applicable federal policy, I respectfully dissent. The $32,208 annual adoption subsidy paid here is clearly income that should be attributed to the parent receiving it in calculating child support.

. I also concur in Section B of the majority decision dealing with other unrelated issues in the case.

. The Guidelines at issue are for actions filed after October 31, 1996. The Arizona Supreme Court has adopted more recent Guidelines for actions filed after April 30, 2001. A.R.S. § 25-320, app. (Supp.2001). As to the specific Guidelines at issue in this case, the pertinent portions of the text are unchanged but the numbering (as indicated subsequently) is different as to certain provisions.

. The subsidy at issue pertains to four of the children. The monthly subsidy is $671 per month per child, for a total monthly subsidy of $2,684. That results in the $32,208 annual figure.

. For instance, in this case the adoption subsidy of $2684 per month is almost six times greater than the income of the mother ($400 per month). The subsidy is approximately one-third the income of the father ($7034 per month).

. Under the 2001 Guidelines, Guideline 23 is renumbered as Guideline 24.

. Likewise, Guideline 24, which deals with "credit for benefits,” is not applicable as that guideline is based on benefits “as a result of contributions made by the parent!.]” (Emphasis added.) Guideline 24 is renumbered as Guideline 25 in the 2001 Guidelines.

. Neither party contended at trial that the subsidy was income of a child. The father claimed it was a credit. The mother argued, as this dissent determines, that it should be attributed as income to the parent receiving it.