Court Opinion

ID: 9750015
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 14:13:28.702236+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:01.593114
License: Public Domain

TAMILIA, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to the holding by the majority that this case must be reversed and remanded for recalculation of the expenses incurred by the mother for the support of the children. In domestic relations cases, the standard of review is abuse of discretion by the trial judge. Lasky v. Lasky, 385 Pa.Super. 508, 561 A.2d 791 (1989), citing Steenland-Parker v. Parker, 375 Pa.Super. 457, 544 A.2d 1010 (1988). The very learned trial judge, Richard D. Grifo, Jr., heard this case de novo, and in his Opinion stated the Melzer formula was complied with in that the reasonable expenses of rearing the children, in addition to the expenses incurred by the mother, were detailed at the domestic *312relations conference and became part of the record, at the hearing de novo, without objection by the appellant. The trial judge considered that the mother’s income was insufficient to pay the housing, maintenance and educational costs for herself and the children, and that the $1,000 per month mortgage on their home and the cost of private schooling for the two children, $4,500 per year, was born by maternal grandfather. These considerations, with other factors concerning appellant’s ability to earn, fully justify the court’s conclusions and Order.
The husband’s annual gross income dropped between 1984 and the last figure used at time of the hearing (1987) from $400,000 to $256,536, and the time spent in his profession as an ophthalmologist went from an average of 40 hours per week to 29 hours per week, a reduction of 25 per cent. In addition, he inflated his expenses by claiming payment of $1,000 per month on a loan to his father-in-law, which he failed to repay, claimed capital expenditures which did not exist and reduced his net income by attributing salaries totaling $20,000 per year to his two daughters, ages 12 and 8. A father may not set aside income for the future education of his children while denying them present support.
Under these circumstances, the trial judge was absolutely within his discretion in determining the appellant’s ability to pay within the reasonable net income he actually earned and finding a voluntary reduction, without justification, in earning power. I believe this case comes within the holding in Olson v. Olson, 384 Pa.Super. 224, 558 A.2d 93 (1989), which does not require a detailed application of Melzer when subterfuge is practiced. Also I believe the trial court correctly determined temporary support from a grandparent does not justify a reduction in support payments from the father. Also a parent may not intentionally reduce his earnings in order to receive a lower child support Order. Roberts v. Bockin, 315 Pa.Super. 52, 461 A.2d 630 (1983); Weiser v. Weiser, 238 Pa.Super. 488, 362 A.2d 287 (1976).
*313Finally, while the mother is earning $7,800 per year in her job as director of a day care center, the trial judge was correct in determining she is not required to give up that job to take a higher paying job as a nurse. Many considerations come into play in making such a determination. The day care job entails regular day-time work, which frees the mother to be available when the children are normally at home. Nursing, for which she was trained, would undoubtedly require shift and weekend hours, probably overtime and other limitations on her availability to her children. This could well entail much higher expenses in additional child care, transportation and clothing than would be realized in income. Nothing in the record justifies a finding that appellee should return to nursing and the trial court correctly held he should not speculate on that issue.
I would affirm on the basis of the Memorandum Opinion of August 10, 1989 by the Honorable Richard D. Grifo, S.J.