Court Opinion

ID: 9853182
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:44:01.33815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:42.294423
License: Public Domain

Judge JOHNSON
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I fully concur with the majority’s disposition of defendant’s assignments of error relating to his motion to dismiss, whether the plaintiff need show a substantial change in circumstances from the time of the separation agreement as justification for an increase in child support payments, and the basis on which the court ordered an increase in defendant’s child support payments. In addition, I agree with the deletion of the $43.49 expenditure for Christmas and birthday gifts from the list of reasonable monthly expenses for the child. Clearly these are not regular monthly expenditures. However, I must respectfully dissent from that portion of the opinion which holds that the trial court erred in its determination of the child’s monthly expenses.
In my opinion, the trial court committed no error by allocating to the minor child one-half of the cost of each of the fixed expenses listed by the plaintiff mother. To require the District Court judge to determine as a matter of law the actual amount of rent, electricity, telephone, home repairs, and transportation used by the parties’ child with any greater precision than this would be to impose a nearly impossible and needlessly time-consuming burden on the court. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is entirely proper for the court to allocate one-half of the fixed living expenses to the minor child who resides with her mother in determining the amount to be paid by defendant for the child’s monthly support.