Tucker v. Tucker (Wyoming 2023)
Wyoming statute requires a child support order be based on specific financial information. This case has a long procedural history. The mother and father divorced and child support was ordered in the final decree. The State filed to modify support in 2017. The district court entered a temporary order modifying support in 2018. In 2021,…
Read MoreCarroll v. State ex rel. Dep’t of Family Services, Child Support Enforcement (Wyoming 2022)
To set aside an order, there must be unusual circumstances. The child support order at issue in this case was set in 2012. The father was ordered to pay $50 per month, the statutory minimum. The father challenged the statute setting the statutory minimum as unconstitutional several times but was unsuccessful. In the latest legal action, the District Court modified the support order to $0 and entered a judgment for his arrears. The District Court denied his motion to set aside the order.
Read MoreHehn v. Johnson (Wyoming 2022)
Even in default child support hearings, the district court has an obligation to determine income for both parents. The mother filed for paternity and support. The father was served, but failed to answer, and the clerk entered default. Both parents appeared at the hearing. The father was awaiting sentencing on a criminal charge, so a temporary order was entered. Upon the father’s release, the mother requested a default hearing. Both parents appeared. The district court took no evidence. The final order granted mother custody, set out visitation, and ordered child support based on the mother’s calculation. The mother appealed.
Read MoreTucker v. Tucker (Wyoming 2023)
The record must contain sufficient evidence to support the determination of income for child support. This modification case was initially brought by the State. The father then filed his own petition. After a lengthy period, the district court entered an order modifying the father’s obligation. The mother appealed. She alleged the evidence didn’t support the calculation of the father’s income.
Read MoreSnowden v. Jaure (Wyoming 2021)
A parent who chooses not to work can be considered voluntarily underemployed. The father filed to modify support based on an increase in the mother’s income. In her financial affidavit, the mother represented she had no income. She testified she had worked in the oil and gas industry, had been laid off due to the pandemic, and was choosing to stay at home with her younger children. The trial court reduced her prior earnings by twenty five percent and imputed her at that amount. The father’s financial affidavit showed he only worked 20 hours per week.
Read MoreO’Roake v. State of Wyoming, ex rel. Dept’ Family Svcs. (Wyoming 2021)
Child support can continue beyond the age of majority if a child is mentally or physically disabled and incapable of self-support. The Department of Family Services filed extend support for a child beyond the age of the child’s majority due to the child’s diagnosis of a metabolic disorder. The court commissioner recommended modifying support, and the district approved the recommendation. The order continued support so long as the child was enrolled as a full-time college student. The father appealed.
Read MoreLemus v. Martinez (Wyoming 2021)
A parent must provide proper proof of a legitimate business expense if the parent wants credit in the child support calculation. The father appealed several terms of the district court order, specifically the court’s decision not to give him credit for mortgage interest in his income for child support. The Supreme Court affirmed the child support order.
Read MoreBrown v. Brown (Wyoming 2021)
Unless an order contains the required findings, a child support order is assumed to be presumptive support and only requires a change in amount for modification. The original divorce decree ordered the father to pay support. He later filed to modify the divorce decree. The final order modified support based on an increase in the support amount sufficient to meet the required twenty percent change. The father appealed.
Read MoreSears v. Sears (Wyoming 2021)
An award of retroactive support is subject to the court’s discretion. The parents filed for divorce, and the district court didn’t order child support during the pending action. The parents agreed to a custody arrangement during the pendency of the action. In the order accepting the arrangement, the court didn’t order support and noted the parents were sharing custody and splitting uncovered medical expenses. The father was also paying the children’s health insurance. The final divorce decree ordered the father to pay support going forward but didn’t award retroactive support. The mother appealed.
Read MoreMarquis v. Marquis (Wyoming 2020)
Evidence must support a parent’s request to exclude business expenses from net income. The parent seeking to deduct the business expense has the burden of proof. The father filed to modify custody, visitation, and support, and the mother responded with a petition to modify support. The parents settled all matters except support. They agreed to…
Read MoreIn the Matter of the Paternity of AAE, TE v. Wy. Dep’t of Family Services (Wyoming 2020)
A nonparty has no standing to participate in an action. A court can’t deny a petition to establish paternity once a genetic test is completed and the results meet the statutory threshold. The Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS) filed to terminate the parental rights of the mother, the child’s presumed father, and the child’s…
Read MoreWebb v. State of Wyoming (Wyoming 2020)
When a parent agrees to an amount of child support, the parent then has no grounds to later argue the order was unconstitutional. The father appealed an order of the district court denying his request to modify his $50 child support order. The initial divorce decree set the child support at the statutory minimum of…
Read MoreVan Fleet v. Guyette (Wyoming 2020)
A parent can’t disregard a statutory requirement then complain about its outcome. This matter came before the court on a modification of custody. With respect to child support, the court ordered both parents to file a financial affidavit. The mother filed hers along with supporting information. The father didn’t, and the court found him in…
Read MoreKimzey v. Kimzey (Wyoming 2020)
To modify a stipulated child support order, there must be a substantial change of circumstances in addition to the required change in the support amount. The parents divorced and in the decree stipulated to a child support amount lower than the guideline amount. Following the mother’s move to Arizona, the father filed to modify custody…
Read MoreEdwards v. Edwards (Wyoming)
A trial court has wide discretion to determine a parent’s status as voluntarily underemployed. Absent an abuse of discretion, the decision won’t be overturned on appeal. The parents filed for divorce. They had four children. During their marriage, they owned a lawn care business. After their separation, the father closed the business and took a…
Read MoreJohnson v. Johnson (Wyoming 2020)
Overtime income can’t be considered as part of gross income unless it was earned in the statutory timeframe and is reasonably expected to continue. The mother and father divorced. They had four children. During the 2018 trial, the mother argued the father was voluntarily underemployed. While the parents were married the father regularly worked overtime,…
Read MoreKnell v. Knell (Wyoming 2019)
The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits the amount that can be garnished from a person’s disposable income. A child support order meets the CCPA definition of a garnishment. The parents in this case divorced, and the order set support and entered a judgment against the father for the amount agreed to in the…
Read MoreMSC v. MCG (Wyoming 2019)
The argument contained in a motion should support the requested relief. The father filed a “Motion for Relief from a Child Support Order.” He requested relief from an income withholding order, but the body of his motion asked the court to set aside the underlying support order. The father argued the Wyoming Child Support Guidelines…
Read MoreLemus v. Martinez (Wyoming 2019)
Sufficient information must support a determination of income. The parents were never married. They had two children. The parents separated, and the father filed for custody and support. Prior to hearing, the father filed an incomplete financial affidavit and two partial personal tax returns. Testimony during the hearing showed he had wages from a job…
Read MoreMartin v. Hart (Wyoming 2018)
A child support order must state the amount of presumptive support. If the court deviates from the presumptive amount, it must give specific reasons. The father filed to establish paternity, custody, and visitation of the child. In the final order, the court stated it was deviating from presumptive support without giving a presumptive amount. The…
Read MoreLong v. Long (Wyoming 2018)
A district court must include the presumptive child support amount in a final decree of divorce. That is the basis for any deviation. Prior to the divorce, the mother filed for a protective order in Circuit Court, and the court set support in this action. The District Court incorporated the amount of support in the…
Read MoreTSR v. State of Wyoming (Wyoming 2017)
As long as the process meets statutory requirements, a court may deviate from presumptive support for later-born children. The mother appealed the district court’s decision to deviate downward from presumptive support for a child born of the father’s current marriage. The district court calculated presumptive support for the parties’ child. The court then calculated the…
Read MoreRambo v. Rambo (Wyoming 2017)
Unpaid child support becomes a judgment by operation of law on the due date. Unless a specific exemption applies, interest begins to accrue at the statutory rate. In this case, the mother filed an order to show cause alleging father had failed to pay child support. The order provided that father could purge himself of…
Read MorePeak v. Peak (Wyoming 2016)
If a parent fails to file a financial affidavit, the Court can calculate income for child support using the testimony and evidence presented at hearing. In this case, the father failed to answer the divorce complaint and was defaulted. He was provided notice of the default hearing, but he failed to appear and did not…
Read MoreZupan v. Zupan (Wyoming 2016)
The parent who petitions to modify a stipulated child support order must show a material change in circumstances as well as a 20 percent change in the support amount. This rule addresses the issue of a parent agreeing to a support amount 20 percent lower or higher than the presumptive amount only to petition for…
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