Court Opinion

ID: 9719658
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:58:26.940751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:08.713343
License: Public Domain

SACKETT, Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I would consider James’s actual taxable earnings which included overtime pay in applying the child support guidelines. See In re Marriage of Lalone, 469 N.W.2d 695, 698 (Iowa 1991) (husband's bonus properly considered on issues of alimony and child support). The majority determined it would be unjust to James to base support on other than regular wages for a forty-hour week. They agree with the trial court *857that $304 a month ($10 a day) is ample support for a sixteen-year-old girl. I find $304 a month inadequate for a child of sixteen where the father has annual wages of $31,813. There is no basis to exclude James’s overtime wages in computing child support, particularly where, as here, without using the overtime wages the ordered support will be inadequate. James has no other children to support, and his daughter is in her last years of high school, which years are particularly expensive years.
The majority appears to feel a divorced noncustodial parent owes his or her family only a forty-hour work week, even if a forty-hour work week does not supply adequate support. Custodial parents devote more than forty hours a week to their children, and a number of parents work extra hours for their families.
I have concern too how the majority’s decision will apply to the self-employed or salaried worker. Will he or she claim that taxable income attributable to a forty-hour work week is all that need be considered for child support purposes?