Lawyer’s Income Pegged at $10K/Mo For Child Support Purposes

Tennessee child support case summary on income determination.

Leslie Allison Muse v. Robert L. Jolley, Jr.

The husband and wife in this Knox County, Tennessee, case were married in 1996 and had three children.  Divorce proceedings started in 2010, and the court entered its final decree in 2015.  The wife was granted a divorce on the grounds of inappropriate marital conduct and divided the parties’ assets.

The husband was ordered to pay child support of $911 per month, based upon the trial court’s finding that the husband’s income was $10,000 per month.  The wife filed some post-trial motions, after which she appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  One of her arguments on appeal was that the lower court had erred in setting the husband’s income.  She argued that the husband, a self-employed attorney, had documented income over the past three years significantly in excess of $10,000.  After reviewing the property division in the case, the appeals court turned to that issue.

The trial court had reviewed the evidence and found that both spouses had roughly equal earning capacities.  It looked at the years 2005-2007 and concluded that his income those years was about $127,000 per year, or $10,600 per month.  The 2014 earnings were about the same.

While the wife presented evidence reflecting income of $220,000 in one of those years, the appellate court agreed with the lower court that the finding was reasonable.  Therefore, it held that the lower court had not abused its discretion in setting the income at $10,000.

The wife argued that the court had impermissibly set a “cap” of $10,000 on the income.  But the appeals court held that this claim was not supported.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s judgment.

The case in the trial court had been heard by Chancellor Telford E. Forgety, Jr., and Judge Richard H. Dinkins penned the decision of the Court of Appeals.  The wife also requested her costs and expenses on appeal, but this request was denied.

No. E2017-01122-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 30,  2020).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Child Support Laws in Tennessee.

See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring actual examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.