Court Opinion

ID: 9811731
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:27:48.836526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:21:17.260239
License: Public Domain

TOM GRAY, Chief Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
To the extent that the majority affirms the trial court’s judgment, I concur. To the extent that the majority reverses and remands, I respectfully dissent.
Even to suggest that the trial court determined prospective child support without reference to any guiding rules or principles or in an arbitrary and unreasonable manner on this record and resulting analysis is almost incomprehensible. After going through a tortured analysis to determine that the trial court erred by including some items in Vannatta’s net resources— an analysis that I do not at all find persuasive based on the statute defining what is to be included in net resources, see Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 154.062 (Vernon 2002)— the majority then proceeds to hold that “the court’s error in this regard probably caused the rendition of an improper prospective child support award” of $1.15 per day. This fits with no aspect of my concept of the abuse-of-discretion standard of review.
With the level of scrutiny given to this analysis, I would commend the trial court’s exercise of discretion in getting it that close, rather than reversing and remanding the judgment.1 In short, I think it is irrational to say that the court abused its discretion if it missed the amount that the majority would have awarded by such an immaterial amount. If the majority must have prospective child support reduced by $85.00, it should at least offer the obligee a remittitur. Further, I find no support in Section 154.062, or in the child-support scheme generally, for the proposition that Vannatta’s net resources do not include his share of net rental income from community property.

. Could the trial court have determined that Vannatta’s obligation should be adjusted pursuant to Family Code Section 154.067? See Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 154.067 (Vernon 2002).