TN Dad’s Alimony & Child Support Lowered $2,600 Per Month
Tennessee alimony and child support modification law case summary. Tennessee divorce and family law from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Sean Eric Von Tagen v. Robin Lynn Von Tagen – Tennessee Alimony Modification Law.
In this divorce case, the father appealed and requested a modification to the divorce decree seeking a reduction in the alimony and support payments, he was required to pay. In the case of Sean von Tagen, father, and Robin von Tagen, mother, who had a 14-year marriage that bore four sons, and the court granted a divorce in February of 2006.
At the time of the creation of the parenting plan, the father’s gross income was $7,000 per month and the mother’s was $200 per month. The father was ordered to pay child support obligations of $743 but agreed to pay $2,000 per month, until the youngest child reached the age of 18 or graduated from high school. The dissolution agreement for the marriage indicated that the father would pay $3,000 per month as rehabilitative alimony until the youngest child reached the age of 18 or the mother cohabitated with another person.
In March of 2008, the father appealed the court order noting a significant change in circumstances with his income. He asked to have rehabilitative alimony reduced or terminated and a reduction for child support according to the court’s guidelines. The trial court held a hearing in January of 2009. The father testified that during seven years of the marriage, he worked as a self-employed stock trader and earned income of $100,000 during some of those years. However, he has since had trouble making profit from the profession. In 2003, he made only $15,000. At that point, he found other employment that allowed him to earn $60,000 to $70,000 per year. In 2005, the father’s reported income was $77,000.
The father stated he assumed he would be making additional money and thus agreed to pay $5,000 per month in child support and alimony, but that this did not happen. As a result, in October 2007, he began working for his parents’ business earning $50,000 per year plus health benefits. His gross income was $4,166.67 and his take home pay was $2,999.71. His current monthly expenses were $2,735.41, excluding alimony and child support.
At the time of the hearing, the mother was unemployed and she was receiving food stamps. She noted she did not have anything that prevented her from working. She was a college graduate but stayed home to care for the children during the marriage and worked various part-time jobs. In February of 2006, the mother worked part-time at a preschool. The mother enrolled in a cosmetology school in November of 2007 and graduated from it in 2008, though she did not earn any money from the job at the time of the hearing. Her monthly expenses total $9,700.
In April of 2009, the court found a significant variance had been established to modify the father’s child support obligations. The lower court found the father’s income in 2008 and 2009 was $50,000. The court found that the standard income for females in the state was $2,441 a month. The court set the father’s child support obligation at $1,609 per month. The court also modified the award for alimony to $750.
The mother appealed the case noting that the court did not have the ability to modify the agreement. She argued the court could not change the award due to jurisdiction, which the appeals court found to be without merit.
The mother also claimed the father was voluntarily underemployed and that due to the sale of his business as pending at the time of the divorce, it was foreseeable. The appeals court noted that in order for a modification to occur, it must be done when there is a substantial or material change in circumstances. Noting the changes in the husband’s income, the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s ruling and maintained the modified alimony awards.
No. M2009-00850-COA-R3-CV, March 12, 2010.
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more about alimony, read Tennessee Alimony Law in Divorce | Answers to FAQs. Also, see the MemphisDivorce.com Tennessee Family Law Blog and its Alimony category.
Memphis divorce lawyer, Miles Mason, Sr. practices family law exclusively and is the founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, which handles Tennessee family law matters including divorce, alimony, alimony modification, child support, and child support modification. Download our free e-Book, Your First Steps: 7 Steps Planning Your Tennessee Divorce. See our Consultation and Fees page and call 901-683-1850.
