Alimony Not Included in Income for Tennessee Child Support
Tennessee child support case law summary on income determination from the Court of Appeals.
Jamia Rentz v. Michael Rentz – Tennessee child support income determination
The mother and father of three children were divorced in Tennessee in 2011. At the time of the divorce, the father was ordered to pay alimony and child support but was awarded the marital residence. Six months later, the parties were back in court with contempt motions against one another. The father also argued that his child support obligation should be reduced, since it failed to take into account the fact that the mother was now receiving alimony. He also argued that it should be modified on the grounds that he was paying for health insurance, and that his new child had been born. The trial court did make some modifications in the child support, but not to the father’s complete satisfaction. He therefore appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
On appeal, one of his arguments was whether the trial court should have considered the mother’s receipt of alimony as part of her income for child support calculations. The trial court had based its ruling on an earlier 2013 Tennessee Court of Appeals case, but the father argued that this case was decided erroneously and should be overruled. The father argued that the alimony constituted real income for the mother, and fairness dictated that it should be included when making the mother’s income calculations.
The Court of Appeals acknowledged that the father’s argument was made in good faith. However, it declined to overrule the earlier decision. The Court of Appeals looked closely at the statutes and child support guidelines, and noted that the legislature had amended the statute after earlier cases had excluded alimony. The appeals court reasoned that if the legislature had intended to reverse these earlier court decisions, it could have done so by modifying the language of the statute, which it had not done.
The husband also argued that the lower court should not have awarded attorney fees to the wife. But after reviewing the record, the Court of Appeals affirmed. The appeals court declined, however, to award attorney fees for the appeal.
No. E2013-02414-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 30, 2014).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
For more information, see Tennessee Child Support Laws. See also Miles Mason’s book available on Amazon.com 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.
