Court Opinion

ID: 9513385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:34:53.203442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:50.446585
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring in the result.
[¶ 40] The trial judge did not order Gene Jarvis to pay the entire portion of the health insurance premium for the children. The trial judge could have required Gene Jarvis to pay the entire amount of the premium under N.D.C.C. § 14-09-08.10. The trial judge did require Gene Jarvis to pay one half of the uncovered medical expenses for the children. I see no inequity in this result and I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion.
[¶ 41] This case does point out the problems in attempting to reconcile statutes enacted by the Legislature with administrative rules the Legislature has authorized an agency to adopt. While the Legislature has left it *93to the Department of Human Services to adopt “guidelines” for child support, N.D.C.C. § 14-09-09.7, the Legislature has also enacted legislation on a specific aspect of those guidelines, i.e., health insurance, in N.D.C.C. § 14-09-08.10. The majority is one attempt to reconcile the statute with the guidelines. The dissent is another. In view of the fact the trial judge ordered both Gene Jarvis and Jennifer Jarvis to share the costs of health insurance and the uncovered medical costs when it could have ordered Gene to pay all of the health insurance premiums for the children, an order from which Jennifer Jarvis has not appealed and which I believe to be reasonable and valid, I would not further attempt to reconcile the statutes and the guidelines or determine whether or not Dickson v. Dickson, 1997 ND 167, 568 N.W.2d 284 is inconsistent and should be overruled. The Legislature and the Department of Human Services should resolve the issue.
[¶ 42] Gerald W. VandeWalle, C.J.