Toussaint v. King (North Carolina 2020)
In a civil contempt hearing, the trial court must find that the parent willfully failed to comply with the support order and has the present ability to pay any purge condition. The parents in this case had a long history of litigation over child support. In this appeal, the father appealed an order finding him…
Read MoreFoy v. Kite (North Carolina 2020)
In a child support case, if the record clearly supports the income calculation, an appellate court will not disturb the trial court’s determination. An order for retroactive child support must include findings as to the reasonableness of the expenses for which reimbursement is sought. The mother and father, who were not married, had one child.…
Read MoreIsrael v. Israel (North Carolina 2020)
Food stamps, or electronic food and nutrition benefits, are not income for child support purposes. The parents in this case divorced, and the father was ordered to pay support for their six children. The parents filed competing motions for contempt and to modify child support. The court modified support. The father appealed. He argued the…
Read MorePrice v. Biggs (North Carolina 2020)
In a civil contempt proceeding, the burden is on the moving party to prove contempt. The trial court must address each contempt element in the order. The mother filed a motion to modify child support. At the first hearing, the mother presented her evidence. At the close of her case, the trial court didn’t hear…
Read MoreKleoudis v. Kleoudis (North Carolina 2020)
For parents with incomes above the guidelines, child support will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The child support amount should be based on the amount of support necessary to meet the child’s reasonable needs in light of the parents’ estates, earnings, and standard of living. In this divorce case, the parents had incomes above…
Read MoreMorris 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…
Read MoreWrubluski v. Wrubluski (North Carolina 2020)
A parent can’t modify child support without a court order. The husband and wife divorced, and the wife was granted custody of their children. Two of the children began to live with the father. He began paying half of the support amount. He eventually filed to modify custody and support. Post-divorce litigation ensued. After several…
Read MoreBerens v. Berens (North Carolina 2020)
A court doesn’t abuse its discretion in imputing income to a parent as long as evidence supports the determination. The mother and the father filed for divorce. After several years, the trial court entered an order a final decree, which set support for three children. Both parents appealed the child support provisions. The mother argued…
Read MoreHart v. Hart (North Carolina 2019)
Failing to include a corrected support order with a packet for registration is procedural, not jurisdictional, and doesn’t necessarily bar a court from modifying the support order. The parents divorced in Washington, and the father was ordered to pay support. The support order was amended twice, once to reflect the mother and children’s move to…
Read MoreUnger v. Unger (North Carolina 2019)
Criminal contempt for child support is appropriate when the contempt addresses past violations of a child support order. The inclusion of a purge provision doesn’t change the contempt to civil. The father failed to make child support payments, and in 2012, the mother filed for contempt. The parents reached an agreement, which was captured in…
Read MoreWatkins v. Benjamin (North Carolina 2019)
For purposes of UIFSA jurisdiction, a new child support order isn’t established because the obligor of the order changes. The parents divorced in North Carolina, and the order granted custody to the father and ordered the mother to pay support. The mother moved to Maryland and the children eventually came to live with her. The…
Read MoreThomas v. Burgett (North Carolina 2019)
Rent payments are income for child support, but the parent may deduct insurance and property tax attributable to the rental property. The court must complete a four-step analysis before deviating from the guidelines. The parents filed for divorce. They had one child. At the time of divorce, the father was retired and received social security.…
Read MoreOrange County, ex rel., Lacy v. Canup (North Carolina 2019)
The definition of income may include the value of rent when a parent is living rent-free. The parents were not married and had one child. The father acknowledged paternity when the child was born. The child support agency filed an application for order to show case as to why a support order should not be…
Read MoreWatauga County v. Shell (North Carolina 2019)
A child support action doesn’t need to be stayed pending an appeal in a custody case. The mother and father were parties to a child custody case filed by their children’s paternal grandparents in Watauga County, North Carolina. While the final order from the custody case was on appeal, the Avery County child support program…
Read MoreSimms v. Bolger (North Carolina 2019)
A lump sum payment is properly considered non-recurring income for child support, doesn’t necessarily require a deviation from the guidelines, and evidence is needed to show that making such a payment will impact future income. The father filed to modify his child support obligation. When support was established, the father’s income was a weekly workers’…
Read MoreColumbus County DSS ex rel. Moore v. Norton (North Carolina 2019)
A court should consider a parent’s income and assets to decide if the parent has the present ability to pay child support. The father appealed the court’s order finding him in contempt for failure to pay support. The trial court found evidence that he had the ability to pay support. He had income, he recently…
Read MoreServatius v. Ryals (North Carolina 2018)
Evidence must support a contempt finding, and the order must then contain the specific findings. The mother filed a motion for order to show cause, alleging that the father had failed to pay support. The court issued the order and ordered the father to appear. After hearing, the trial court declined to hold father in…
Read MoreGyger v. Clement (North Carolina 2018)
When registering an order sent from a foreign reciprocating country, notice of a pending hearing is properly sent to the agency that initiated the action. Switzerland requested that North Carolina register a support order. The trial court didn’t register the order. It found that the notice provided to the father of the initial hearing didn’t…
Read MoreCounty of Durham v. Burnette (North Carolina 2018)
Evidence of a parent’s willful refusal to pay a child support order and ability to pay purge conditions must support a contempt order. The father had two child support orders, and the County of Durham initiated contempt proceedings on both orders. The court found him in contempt for failure to pay on both orders and…
Read MoreHill v. Hill (North Carolina 2018)
A trial court must be clear about its process in imputing income. The father appealed the court order that denied his request for a modification of child support and found him in contempt. The father was terminated from his high-income job and requested a modification in support. The father was unemployed for almost four years…
Read MoreCrews v. Paysour (North Carolina 2018)
On remand, a trial court may consider new evidence in a child support hearing. If it doesn’t, the findings of fact and conclusions of law in the order must be based on the existing record. The appellate court remanded the initial order in this case for further findings. During the hearing on remand, the trial…
Read MoreBaucom v. Vlahos (North Carolina 2018)
A petition to modify a child support order must request specific relief. Otherwise, the terms of the underlying order do not change. The mother appealed a court order denying her request for reimbursement of uncovered medical expenses. The original divorce decree ordered the father to pay a specific percentage of the uncovered medical bills. A…
Read MoreKaplan v. Kaplan (North Carolina 2018)
The burden of proof in a child support contempt hearing shifts to the non-paying parent once a court enters an order to appear and show cause. The father appealed a contempt order. He argued he didn’t have the ability to pay the support or the purge condition. The appellate court affirmed the order and found…
Read MoreRobeson County Enforcement Unit v. Harrison (North Carolina 2018)
A substantial change of circumstances must occur for a child support order to be modified. The father appealed an order modifying his support arguing that there was no substantial change of circumstances. His income had increased, but it increased some time ago. In fact, the parties agreed to the previous order, and his income had…
Read MoreHewitt v. Hewitt (North Carolina 2018)
Competent evidence must support the finding of income for child support purposes. A parent should receive credit for maintaining health insurance for the children. The father appealed the decree of divorce, arguing that the court didn’t properly determine his income and that he should receive credit for paying for the children’s insurance. The court of…
Read MoreKaiser v. Kaiser (North Carolina 2018)
Findings must support a court’s determination of an asset as income for child support purposes. The mother and the father were divorced, and the trial court set child support. Mother appealed the child support order, arguing that the court incorrectly included capital gains, dividends, and payments from her boyfriend for rent as income. She also…
Read MoreMadigan v. Madigan (North Carolina 2018)
Income for child support purposes is normally based on a parent’s actual income but it can be imputed to a parent if the evidence shows the parent isn’t earning up to his or her earning potential. The mother appealed the trial court’s determination of her income arguing that the trial court improperly imputed income to…
Read MoreSummerville v. Summerville (North Carolina 2018)
A child support order cannot be modified sua sponte. The father appealed a district court order modifying his child support obligation, arguing that neither party had requested a modification of support. The appellate court agreed and found that there was no request to modify child support before the court. There is a line of North…
Read MoreThomson v. Holling (North Carolina 2018)
Specific evidence must support the income determination for a self-employed parent. The mother appealed the lower court’s income calculation for the father, who was self-employed. The lower court based its determination on father’s child support worksheet and testimony. The Appellate Court found that the evidence didn’t support the monthly income attributed to the father. He…
Read MoreKabasan v. Kabasan (North Carolina 2018)
The value of an annuity counts as income for child support purposes without regard to any penalties for surrender or early withdrawal. The father in this case appealed the trial court’s calculation of his income, which included the value of an annuity. The father appealed arguing that the court should have reduced the value to…
Read MoreCounty of Durham v. Hodges (North Carolina 2017)
Evidence of a parent’s ability to pay must support a contempt order. The father in this case appealed a contempt order arguing that the evidence showed he had no ability to pay support. The contempt order was a pre-printed form that didn’t contain any findings of fact. The appellate court found the order lacked the…
Read MoreLasecki v. Lasecki (North Carolina 2017)
An unincorporated settlement agreement is a contract, and the agreed-to child support obligation can’t be modified based on a change of circumstances like a court-ordered obligation. The father appealed the district court’s decision not to reduce his support obligation based on his lower income. The appellate court held that a trial court is without authority…
Read MoreCatawba County ex rel. Rackley v. Loggins (North Carolina 2017)
Catawba County ex rel. Rackley v. Loggins, No. 152PA16 (N.C. 2017). A court maintains subject matter jurisdiction to modify a child support order even without a formal motion for modification. The parents filed a modified voluntary support agreement and order in 2001. The father failed to pay current support regularly and was involved in many…
Read MoreSarno v. Sarno (North Carolina 2017)
North Carolina courts must follow the statutory process for deviating from presumptive child support. The mother appealed the court’s deviation from presumptive support arguing that the court failed to make the required findings. In North Carolina, the court can consider a deviation after determining the presumptive support amount, considering evidence regarding the child’s need for…
Read MoreThompson v. Gerlach (North Carolina 2017)
In order to find a parent in contempt for failure to pay support, the court must find evidence of their ability to pay and willful failure to do so. Also, the order must contain specific purge conditions and date. In this case, the trial court found the father in contempt for failure to pay support…
Read MoreLueallen v. Lueallen (North Carolina 2016)
When establishing a child support obligation, income can be imputed to a parent who is found to be voluntarily unemployed and motivated by a desired to avoid their reasonable support obligation. Evidence must support the intent to avoid the support obligation. The appellate court in this case found that income had properly been imputed to…
Read MoreNguyen v. Heller-Nguyen (North Carolina 2016)
Vested child support arrears are not subject to offset.
Read MoreMalone v. Hutchinson-Malone (North Carolina 2016)
The North Carolina child support statutes specifically identify the circumstances under which a child support obligation terminates; however, parents can agree to a duration for the obligation that is more generous, but not more restrictive.
Read MoreHunt v. Hunt (North Carolina 2016)
CSEA has an unconditional right to intervene in a proceeding where an individual has applied for child support services and paid the application fee.
Read MoreMalinak v. Malinak (North Carolina 2015)
If there is a court-ordered support obligation, the doctrine of laches does not bar the recovery of unpaid child support.
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