Court Opinion

ID: 9576424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:24:19.436882+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:07:27.338365
License: Public Domain

M. Warshawsky, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion in this case as to child support and the division of the parties’ interests in the marital home.
First, I do not agree that the trial court clearly abused its discretion in awarding $800 per month in child support. Plaintiff proposed that he pay $491 per month in child support, as that figure represented twenty percent of his 1986 net income, projected by plaintiff to be $29,519. As noted by the majority of this panel, the trial court specifically found plaintiff’s proposal to be "penurious and restrictive.” Moreover, the trial court characterized plaintiff’s projected 1986 gross income of $49,100 and net income of $29,519 as "conjectural and extremely conservative.” Some evidence indicated that plaintiff’s 1985 income was $82,700 and that his income for 1986 would be at least as *656great. Although plaintiff projected that he would pay approximately $19,500 in taxes in 1986, evidence was presented that defendant paid virtually no income taxes for the several preceding years. The trial court apparently accepted defendant’s proposed finding that plaintiff’s 1986 income would be $48,000 and accepted plaintiff’s offer to pay twenty percent of his income in child support, resulting in $800 per month in child support payments. I believe that the amount awarded was proper in light of evidence as to both parties’ incomes, the standard of living of the parties and plaintiff’s offer to pay twenty percent of his income in child support.
Second, I do not agree that the trial court clearly abused its discretion in awarding plaintiff $50,000 as his interest in the marital home rather than $86,500, which represents one-half of a $173,000 differential gain to the property. The division of property is not governed by a mathematical formula and, thus, an equal division is not required. Pelton v Pelton, 167 Mich App 22, 26; 421 NW2d 560 (1988). There was evidence presented by which the entire acquisition of the marital home could be traced to defendant. I believe the division is equitable under the circumstances, and I would not substitute my judgment for that of the trial court in this regard.
I would affirm.