Court Opinion

ID: 9737056
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:14:16.375008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:13.906807
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE CHAPMAN, dissenting: The factual matters and the general principles of law set forth in the majority opinion are accurate, but the conclusions drawn are, in my judgment, incorrect. With regard to the requested contempt finding, the evidence clearly established that respondent was over $15,000 in arrears in child support over an approximate five-year period. During that same period respondent’s income was certainly sufficient to meet his support obligations. Indeed, his only excuse for not meeting them was the fact that he had incurred a Federal tax obligation during a time period that he was self-employed. This is not the type of extreme misfortune which justifies a nonpayment of child support (Betts v. Betts (1987), 155 Ill. App. 3d 85, 507 N.E.2d 912), and even if it were, the record does not show that respondent has significantly reduced the tax obligation with the funds he has withheld from his children. The majority’s reference to an affidavit of assets and liabilities to justify respondent’s conduct is not persuasive. The affidavit of Bobby Joe Hardy shows he has an average monthly salary of $1,037. His estimated monthly expenses total $1,033, which does not include any expenses incurred on behalf of his children. Mr. Hardy estimates the expenses he incurs on behalf of his children to equal $751 per month. It is not clear from the affidavit whether these expenses are for the children of his marriage to Barbara Hardy or to his present wife. Barbara Hardy’s purported monthly salary as shown by her affidavit is $866. She declares that the average monthly expenses incurred by her and her children for which she is responsible total $1,556. Considering Bobby Joe Hardy’s asset-to-liability ratio is $1,037/ $1,032, and Barbara Hardy’s asset-to-liability ratio is $866/$!,556, it is clearly evident that Barbara Hardy’s liabilities greatly exceed Bobby Joe Hardy’s liabilities, and that reliance on the affidavits as justification for Bobby Joe Hardy’s conduct is not well-founded. Turning to the issue of the reduction in child support ordered by the trial court, respondent argues that petitioner’s earnings had increased since the divorce, while his earnings had decreased. Such an argument has little merit where although petitioner’s earnings had in fact increased since the divorce, her five-year average earnings since the divorce equalled only $10,800, whereas respondent’s five-year average earnings equalled $28,050. In comparison, petitioner’s gross wage in 1981, the year the initial order of support was entered, was $4,483, as compared to her earnings of $13,421 in 1985. Respondent’s gross wage in 1981 was $28,417 as compared to his earnings of $31,192 in 1985. It was only in 1984 that respondent’s income fell below the amount he was earning the year of the divorce. In fact, respondent’s average income based on earnings received in 1981 through 1985 and respondent’s projected earnings of 1986 total $29,545. This amount exceeds respondent’s 1981 income on which the trial court relied in entering the initial order of support. The only showing respondent made of diminished resources with which to pay the child support was the tax liability due the Internal Revenue Service. The record shows that the tax liability was incurred due to his failure to withhold while he was self-employed. The record also reveals that respondent has remarried and that of that marriage, a physically impaired son was born so that respondent has incurred additional medical expenses. The remarriage of respondent and a child by the second marriage do not present, in and of themselves, a change of conditions sufficient to warrant a modification. Although the effect may be to deprive a second wife of support, from a legal standpoint the first obligations must be met before the second obligations can or will be considered. (Gregory v. Gregory (1964), 52 Ill. App. 2d 262, 268, 202 N.E.2d 139, 143; Roqueplot v. Roqueplot (1980), 88 Ill. App. 3d 59, 63, 410 N.E.2d 441, 445.) The record does not show evidence of default or missed payments on respondent’s other debts or obligations; thus, I infer that respondent was current on his other debts. I conclude that in view of the evidence the only change in circumstances was an increase in ability to pay which could never warrant a reduction in child support. It is not necessary for me to reach the issue whether the trial court erred in ordering a stay, since I find that the trial court’s conclusion was against the manifest weight of the evidence. I would reverse the decision of the trial court.