Resources
Child Support Resource Library
Welcome to the YoungWilliams Child Support Resource Library. Search by keywords or use the filters to select categories of interest to you. Currently, our Library consists of academic and government research articles and reports from around the country, federal opinions, and case law from states in which our full service child support projects are located.
Wilder v. Wilder (Tennessee 2020)
An order that doesn’t adjudicate all of the issues before the court is not final and not ready for appeal. The parents in this case filed competing petitions to modify child support for their three children. The father, the payor, requested a downward modification, arguing his income had decreased. The mother requested an upward modification and asked that support continue beyond the age of majority for the older two children, both of whom the mother alleged were disabled. The trial court entered an order finding the older two children disabled and continuing support beyond the age of their majority. The father appealed.
Wright v. Wright (Tennessee 2020)
When imputing income to parents, the court can consider factors including education and the reason for any change in employment. The parents filed for divorce. They had one child. The father had a history of high paying jobs, but was working as a part-time consultant at the time of the trial. The court imputed an income of $144,000 per year to him. This amount was less than his highest paying job but more than his actual income. The mother, a licensed attorney, had never practiced in Tennessee, but testified she could probably find a job that paid $50,000. The court imputed her at $2,000 per month. The father appealed the imputation of income as well as other findings.
Cain-Swope v. Swope (Tennessee 2020)
A parent can request a discretion from the child support obligation for extraordinary educational expenses. The parents divorced, and the mother was ordered to pay support. The parents engaged on ongoing litigation. Specific to this appeal, the mother filed to modify support, requesting a deviation from support since she paid for the child’s private school tuition. The trial court denied the deviation, finding that the parents made an agreement that the mother would pay tuition. The mother appealed.
Best v. Oliver (Mississippi 2020)
To modify a child support order, there must be a material change in circumstances that wasn’t foreseeable when the original order was established. While an increase in a child’s expenses is foreseeable, the amount of the increase is not. The mother and father divorced, and the father was ordered to pay support for their only child. Several years later, the mother filed to modify citing father’s increase in income, the child’s increase in expenses, and a change in her financial situation. The chancery court granted the modification, and the father appealed.
Johnson 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, but he stopped in 2015. She argued his income should be based on his income for 2013 and 2104 when he has regularly working overtime. The trial court agreed and set support accordingly. The father appealed the child support award along with other provisions of the divorce decree.
2019 Employer Symposium Report
At the annual 2019 conference, the National Association of Child Support Directors (NCCSD) brought together a group of child support professionals and employers to discuss ways to improve communication, cooperation, and processes between the program and employers. This report summarizes the discussion and sets out the action items. The goals of the Symposium included, but were not limited to, making employers aware of state resources, discussing major trouble spots for employers, addressing improvements to lump sum, and learning more about the gig economy.
Morris v. Powell (North Carolina 2020)
Child support does not end until a child is legally emancipated. A seventeen-year-old child moved out of his mother’s home, and the father stopped paying support. The mother filed a petition for contempt and for a judgment on the arrears. The father filed to terminate support as of the date the child moved out, arguing that the child constructively emancipated. The trial court granted the father’s motion to terminate support and found the father was not in contempt for willful nonpayment. The mother appealed.
Kibbe. v. Kibbe (Tennessee 2020)
The court has discretion to craft a child support award that will best support a child with extraordinary medical needs as long as the court considers all available resources. The parents’ initial divorce decree addressed the needs of their special needs child. The mother primarily cared for the child, and the father was granted visitation. Several years later, the father filed to modify alimony and/or eliminate alimony or, alternatively to reduce alimony in relation to any increase in child support. The trial court heard testimony that the father rarely visited the child. The mother couldn’t leave the child without care, so she worked when the child was at school.
Marriage of Weekes (Colorado 2020)
Statutes operate prospectively unless the language indicates otherwise. A law is unconstitutionally retrospective if it infringes on a vested right. The father filed to modify his child support based on a physical change of custody that happened without a court order. Current Colorado law limits retroactive modification of child support to the five years prior to the filing of the motion with an exception if the outcome is shown to be unjust and/or inappropriate. If the exception is applied, the date can go back further than five years. The father filed to modify well after the child had emancipated. The court denied the motion to modify as untimely, and the father appealed.
Tools for Better Practices and Better Outcomes: The Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project
he federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) funded the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS)demonstration grant to explore the application of behavioral science principles to operational challenges in child support services. This report summarizes the outcomes and lessons learned from each intervention. The eight grantees implemented interventions designed to address barriers to the establishment, enforcement, and modification of child support orders. The interventions ranged from simplifying paperwork to implementing in-person meetings with parents to explain payment options.
