Court Opinion

ID: 9857725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 15:56:28.706963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:44:26.890268
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
dissenting.
In Schaff v. Schaff, 449 N.W.2d 570 (N.D.1990), we affirmed the trial court’s finding of material change in circumstances partly upon a specific finding that Ms. Schaff’s progressive illness was more debilitating than previously anticipated or perceived. We should likewise affirm the trial court’s similar finding in this case.
It is true that the trial court did not write words to the effect that “I find as a material change of circumstances the following.” But it did write what I interpret to be a *745predicate for increasing the amount of child support, that the cost of living had increased since the original award, that children need more money as they grow older and probably most significant, that the child’s cerebral palsy, though known at the time of the divorce, was, in effect, now known to be more expensive than anticipated. From this recitation by the trial court, I understand “the factual determination made by the trial court and the basis for its conclusions of law and judgment entered thereon.” All Seasons Water Users v. Northern Improvement Co., 399 N.W.2d 278 (N.D.1987); Healy v. Healy, 397 N.W.2d 71 (N.D.1986).
I agree that, sometimes, when a clear expression of findings on an issue is missing, we must reverse. E.g., Wright v. Wright, 463 N.W.2d 654, 656 (N.D.1990) (Levine, J., concurring). I also would agree that a reversal is justified when the omission of a specific finding in conjunction with other express findings or statements by the trial court raises doubt about whether the trial court properly applied the law. E.g., Anderson v. Anderson, 448 N.W.2d 181 (N.D.1989). In this case, however, it is clear to me that the trial court implicitly found a material change of circumstances before it increased the amount of support and, therefore, properly applied the law.
While I agree with the majority that the guidelines do not apply to this case as anything more than a reasonable benchmark, the guidelines under our new law are now part of the child support landscape. Whether or not the legislature has eliminated the judicial prerequisite of material change in circumstances in order to comply with the guidelines, this court should lead the way. It would be unseemly to deprive from the guidelines’ munificence (I use the term advisedly because everything is relative) the very class they were intended to protect — children of divorce. It would be even more unseemly to perpetuate our requirement of a material change in circumstances without a concomitant holding that a deviation from the guidelines is per se a material change of circumstances.
Because I would hold that the trial court made sufficient findings on material change of circumstance to enable an appellate court to review those findings, I would affirm. I, therefore, respectfully dissent.
MESCHKE, J., concurs.