Child Support Must Be Based On Actual Number Parenting Days
Tennessee child support case summary on parenting days.
Charles Michael Vance, II v. Angela Michelle Taylor Vance
The mother and father in this Davidson County, Tennessee, case were the parents of two children, born in 2003 and 2007. They were divorced in 2009, and Judge Phillip R. Robinson ruled that they would have equal residential time with the children, with each parent being the primary residential parent for part of the year. The schedule called for the children to spend alternating weeks with each parent.
At the time of the divorce, the father’s monthly income was $5,859, and the mother’s was $12,500. The mother was ordered to pay child support of $897 per month.
In 2013, the father made a petition to modify the child support obligation due to her increase in income. He also asked for her to pay a pro rata share of extraordinary educational expenses. After a hearing, the trial court raised her obligation to $2,100 per month, and ordered the pro rata educational expenses. The trial court made this order retroactive, and also awarded the father his attorney fees. The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
She first argued that the trial court had erred because it based the ruling on an interval of 182.5 days. She argued that this resulted in an erroneous amount, since the parenting plan actually called for 183 days of parenting time for one child, and 182 for the other. The appeals court looked at the schedule and agreed that the children had actually spent 183 days with one parent, and 182 days with the other. For this reason, the amount had to be modified, and the case was remanded for this purpose.
On the issue of private school tuition, the appeals court examined the record and concluded that there had been insufficient evidence as to whether the parents had agreed to private school. Therefore, it concluded that a review of this portion of the record was impossible without remanding for futher fact finding.
For these reasons, the appeals court remanded the case for a computation of the child support obligation
No. M2017-00622-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 16, 2018).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Is Child Support Based on Actual Parenting Time Exercised or the Parenting Time Listed in the Permanent Parenting Plan?
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.
