Court Opinion

ID: 9564465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:01:13.34725+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:26.944034
License: Public Domain

HATHAWAY, Judge,
dissenting in part, concurring in part.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s disposition of the child support issue and concur in its disposition of the business valuation issue. The trial court appropriately considered the affidavit appellee filed pursuant to MCLR 6.4(b). Nothing in the rules prohibits the court from considering the information contained therein. Indeed, “[s]pousal affidavits ... may be considered by the court on the issues of payments and property divisions.” Charles Marshall Smith and Irwin Cantor, Arizona Practice-Marriage Dissolution Practice § 226 at 225 (vol. 3, 1988). Moreover, appellant did not dispute the figures in the affidavit, despite his knowledge that it was before the court.
Furthermore, absent any consideration of appellee’s affidavit, the trial court had sufficient basis to arrive at the $5,000 monthly support figure. Appellant suggested the amount of $2,718 per month, based on the Arizona Child Support Guidelines obligation calculated from a $12,000 monthly income for a family with five children, while appellee suggested $7,824 per month, based upon an extrapolation from the Guidelines to reach appellant’s monthly income of $34,600, as the Guidelines do not encompass a monthly income exceeding $12,000. The court, in its discretion, looked at the facts of this case, and combined them with the theory of the Guidelines and the factors set out in A.R.S. § 25-320, as is appropriate. The introductory paragraph to the Guidelines specifically provides that “[cjhild support awards based upon income of ... greater than $12,000 per month shall be based on the facts of the individual case and shall be consistent with the theory of these Guidelines and the factors set forth in AR.S. § 25-320.” There is simply no evidence that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding $5,000 per month for child support.