Dad’s Overtime Averaged as Income for TN Child Support
Tennessee law case summary on income determination and child support in Tennessee divorce and family law from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
John Ambler Widener v Stephanie Elizabeth Widener – Tennessee Child Support Laws on Overtime
In the case of John Widener, father, and Stephanie Widener, mother, the mother appealed the decision of the lower court regarding the appointment of the father as primary residential parent and the award of child support. The parties married July 2003 and had two children. The father filed for divorce in July of 2008. A trial court heard the case in August of 2010. The child custody issues were hotly contested. In October of 2010, the trial court declared the parties divorced, ending the couple’s 7 year marriage. It named the father primary residential parent and established alternate parenting time for the mother. It calculated child support on the mother’s income of $1,117 when she was not working full time. The father’s income was found to be $2,981 per month.
One of the first things the appeals court did was to determine if the trial court erred in naming the father the primary residential parent. The appeals court determined that the trial court has the wide discretion on matters relating to child custody due to the intricate details of such decisions. The appeals court considered the fact that the mother alleged physical abuse, though the lower court found that there was domestic violence between both parties and at one point, the mother left the primary residence leaving the children in the care of the father. The lower court used a fitness evaluation as required by law to determine that it was in the best interests of the children to remain with the father. Due to these circumstances, the appeals court affirmed this decision of the lower court.
In determining the father’s income of $2,981 per month, the mother stated that although the father did not earn overtime in the previous two weeks that the overtime should be a factor since it is always up and down. The appeals court noted that during testimony, the father did state that overtime was a potential option in the future. The appeals court agreed that the findings regarding the father’s income were incorrect. In doing so, it vacated the child support determination and remanded the issue to the lower court to average the overtime pay in its calculation of his income. The appeals court ordered the trial court to reassess the amount of child support necessary after gathering this data.
No M2010-02435-COA-R3-CV, August 12, 2011.
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
For more information, see Overtime in Tennessee Child Support Law.
Memphis divorce attorney, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA, practices family law exclusively with the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC. To learn more about Tennessee child support laws, read and view:
