Court Opinion

ID: 9792772
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:36:17.844308+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:03.290046
License: Public Domain

DEITS, P. J.,
concurring in part; dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority that the trial court lacked authority to create a trust for the child and that because the requirements of ORCP 68 were not followed, it is necessary to remand the case for a hearing on attorney fees and costs. I also agree with the majority that the child support question needs to be remanded to the trial court. However, I disagree with the extent of the majority’s remand, as well as its rationale for remanding.
The trial court found that the presumptive child support under the guidelines was rebutted in this case. It explained:
“3. The guidelines do not go that high. When support was set in Minnesota, if per the guidelines, it would have been about $700.00 per month. It was set much lower. The báse figure for support is $1,039.00 per month. The factors to apply in this situation are set out in OAR 137-50-330(2). The specific ones that apply are (A) Evidence of available resources and (I) Tax Consequences. Father has significant resources and has been claiming the child as a dependent. He has paid no support for two years. Support should be more than the top figure in the guidelines.”
The majority concludes that the evidence did not support a deviation from the presumed child support amount under the guidelines and reduced the amount of child support awarded by the court. In reaching this conclusion, the majority holds that: “Any decision to set child support above the guidelines cap must, at a minimum, be based primarily on the child’s needs, as set out in specific supporting findings. * * * Any other interpretation renders the guidelines cap illusory.” *511128 Or App at 507. It reasons that because the evidence does not establish that the child had needs in the amount awarded by the trial court, that amount cannot be justified. The majority states that it is also necessaiy to consider whether any of the other factors that the guidelines require to be considered are sufficiently compelling to rebut the presumptive guidelines cap. It then notes the factors considered by the trial court; namely father’s very substantial gross income and the fact that father claimed the child as a dependent for tax purposes. However, the majority then summarily rejects those factors: “Neither justified an award in excess of that provided by the guidelines cap.” 128 Or App at 508.
I disagree with the majority’s holding for a number of reasons. The majority essentially holds that in a case where the guidelines cap is applicable, the evidence must show that a child has needs in excess of the cap amount in order to justify a support award higher than the amount available based on the cap. That may or may not be a good policy decision, but it is not one that either the legislature, in ORS chapter 25, or the Support Enforcement Division (SED), in the adoption of the guidelines, has made.
ORS 25.280 provides that the amount of child support determined by the application of the guidelines formula is presumed to be the correct amount. However, that amount may be rebutted if a finding is made on the record that application of the formula would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case. The guidelines then list the following criteria that must be considered in making that determination:
“(1) Evidence of the other available resources of a parent;
“(2) The reasonable necessities of a parent;
“ (3) The net income of a parent remaining after with-holdings required by law or as a condition of employment;
“(4) A parent’s ability to borrow;
“(5) The number and needs of other dependents of a parent;
“(6) The special hardships of a parent including, but not limited to, any medical circumstances of a parent affecting the parent’s ability to pay child support;
“(7) The needs of the child;
*512“(8) The desirability of the custodial parent remaining in the home as a full-time parent and homemaker.
“(9) The tax consequences, if any, to both parents resulting from spousal support awarded and determination of which parent will name the child as a dependent; and
“(10) The financial advantage afforded a parent’s household by the income of a spouse or another person with whom the parent lives in a relationship similar to husband and wife.” ORS 25.280.
As the majority discusses, SED’s administrative rules establish a cap on awards of child support when the adjusted gross incomes of the parties exceeds $10,000 per month. The rule also states, however, that “[a] basic child support obligation in excess of this level may be demonstrated for those reasons set forth in OAR 137-50-330.” OAR 137-50-490(2). OAR 137-50-330(2)(a), similarly to the statute, provides that the presumptive child support amount may be rebutted by a finding that the presumptive amount is unjust or inappropriate; that finding is to be “based upon the criteria set forth in paragraphs (A) through (J) of this subsection.” Those criteria are:
“(A) Evidence of the other available resources of the parent;
“(B) The reasonable necessities of the parent;
“(C) The net income of the parent remaining after withholdings required by law or as a condition of employment;
“(D) A parent’s ability to borrow;
“(E) The number and needs of other dependents of a parent;
“(F) The special hardships of a parent including, but not limited to, any medical circumstances of a parent affecting the parents’ ability to pay child support;
“(G) The needs of the child;
“(H) The desirability of the custodial parent remaining in the home as a full-time parent and homemaker;
“(I) The tax consequences, if any, to both parents resulting from spousal support awarded and determination of which parent will name the child as a dependent; the formula presumes the custodial parent will have the tax exemption allowed for the child or children;
*513“(J) The financial advantage afforded a parent’s household by the income of a spouse or another person with whom the parent lives in a relationship similar to husband and wife.” OAR, 137-50-330(2)(a).
The majority holds that the above factors are not to be given equal weight — that the paramount consideration under the guidelines is the needs of the child. However, there is absolutely no support for that conclusion in the language of either the statute or the rules. Both provide that the court is to exercise its discretion in deciding if the presumptive award of support is “unjust or inappropriate” in the particular circumstances. In making that determination, the court is directed to consider the listed factors. There is no indication that any of the factors are mandatory or that any are predominant. In construing a statute, it is not the function of the court to insert what has been omitted or to omit what has been inserted. ORS 174.010. The existing language of the statute and rules simply does not support the majority’s conclusion. Had the legislature or SED intended to make the establishment of need by a child to be a prerequisite to an award of support over the amount available under the cap, it could easily have done so.
In reaching its conclusion, the majority relies on its assumption that because the guidelines child support calculation is “basically a function of the parties’ gross income,” the parties’ total income has already been considered in determining appropriate child support. 128 Or App at 508. The majority explains that a trial court cannot use a parent’s income to determine the amount due under the guidelines and then use that same figure to depart from those guidelines without reference to the child’s needs for the higher support above the cap. Again, there is no support for this proposition in the statute or the rules. In my view, a more reasonable reading of these provisions is that the presumptive child support amount based on the cap takes into consideration income up to $10,000 per month and that income in excess of that amount may be considered under OAR 137-50-330(A) and (C) as “other available resources.”
The majority also relies on decisions from other jurisdictions to support its conclusion. Such decisions, of course, are not controlling here, although the reasoning of *514other courts may provide helpful guidance to us. However, even some of the decisions involving statutes similar to Oregon’s, relied on by the majority, recognize that child support in excess of a cap is a matter of the trial court’s discretion on a case-by-case basis after considering all of the applicable criteria. In In re the Marriage of Van Inwegen, 757 P2d 1118 (Colo App 1988), relied on by the majority, the court rejected the idea that child support in an amount over a cap may be calculated by mechanically extrapolating the amount specified in the guidelines to calculate support based on incomes under the cap. As the majority states, the court in Van Inwegen did say that the needs of the child are of paramount importance in determining child support obligations. However, the court also said that the amount of support over the cap should be decided on a case-by-case basis and that after considering the pertinent factors, such as the needs of the child, as well as the financial resources of the parents, the court is to exercise its discretion in setting the appropriate amount. That case does not stand for the proposition that in order to obtain an award over the amount of the cap, it must be proven that the child has needs in excess of the amount available based on the cap.
In construing the guidelines as it does, the majority disregards ORS 25.275(2)(a), which provides that in devising the guidelines formula for child support, SED must comply with the following standard:
“The child is entitled to benefit from the income of both parents to the same extent that the child would have benefited [sic] had the family unit remained intact or if there had been an intact family unit consisting of both parents and the child.”
Under my reading of the guidelines, SED carries out this provision by allowing the court in deciding if a child support award based on the cap is unjust or inappropriate to consider the financial resources of the parties beyond their income of $10,000 per month and base an increased award on that factor in appropriate cases.
I understand the concern of the majority that child support should not be de facto spousal support. However, I do not think that it is necessary to take the extreme position that the majority does and preclude any award of child support *515beyond the cap based on the fact that the child’s parents have substantial income. It appears to me that both the legislature and SED believed that it would be proper in appropriate cases to award child support in excess of a child’s basic needs, if the child’s parents’ resources would allow that. This would allow a child to benefit from the income of his or her parents as if there had been an intact family. See Bailey and Bailey, 108 Or App 678, 684, 816 P2d 1195 (1991). This is not to say that, if the parents have any income over the cap amount, it must result in a child support award in excess of the cap. If that were true, the majority would be right that the guidelines cap would be illusory. However, in my view, in a case such as this where the parents’ income is substantially over the cap — almost four times the cap — it should be within the trial court’s discretion to base an award of child support over the cap on that factor alone. I believe that it was proper for the trial court to base its decision to award child support above the cap on the substantial additional resources of father. However, OAR 137-50-330(2)(b) does require specific findings as to the amount of the increase attributable to each factor:
‘ ‘If the child support presumption is rebutted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, a written finding or a specific finding on the record must be made that the amount is unjust or inappropriate. Effective May 1, 1992, that finding must recite the amount that under the guidelines is presumed to be correct, and must include the reason why the order varies from the guidelines amount. A new support amount may be calculated by determining an appropriate dollar value to be attributed to the specific criteria upon which the finding was based and by making an appropriate adjustment in the amounts use in subsections (l)(b) and (d) of this rule.”
The trial court made general findings regarding why the guidelines amount was unjust and inappropriate. However, its findings need to be more specific and need to specify the amount of the increase attributed to each of the factors that it considered. Accordingly, I would remand the case to the trial court for a hearing on attorney fees and costs and for additional findings and reconsideration of the child support award.