Tennessee Father’s Loss of $600,000 Job Means Child Support Reduction
Tennessee child support law case law summary on lowering child support from the Court of Appeals.
Maryam Ghorashi-Bajestani v. Masoud Bajestani – Tennessee divorce income.
The husband and wife divorced in 2009 after an eight-year marriage with two children. At the time of the divorce, the children were five and seven years old. The husband was an officer with the TVA and earned $619,000 per year. The wife was also an engineer, but stayed at home during the marriage to be home for the children. The court imputed an income of $72,000 per year to her. The wife was named primary residential parent and was awarded 275 days of parenting time. The husband was ordered to pay $3200 per month in child support, plus an additional $2133 per month for private school tuition through twelfth grade. The wife was also given transitional alimony for six years.
After an earlier appeal, the husband filed a petition asking for a modification of child support, and stated that he had been terminated from the TVA and no longer had income from that employment. The trial court held that the husband’s income had decreased substantially because of involuntary unemployment. He did have access to some deferred compensation, but the trial court held that this asset had already been allocated as part of the property settlement, and that it should not be considered a second time as his income.
The trial court deferred a decision on the issue of tuition, but held that he was obligated to pay for that school year. His child support obligation was reduced to $776 per month, and the wife appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The wife first argued that the deferred compensation amounted to wages earned, and should have been included in the husband’s income. The husband argued that the trial court had correctly concluded that the asset had already been divided, and that the income from the husband’s share should not be counted a second time. The Court of Appeals agreed with the husband with respect to the principal of that asset. However, it held that any income from the appreciation of that asset should have been considered as the husband’s income. Therefore, it remanded to the trial court to determine the amount of that appreciation and the income resulting from it.
The husband had also had temporary employment in Australia, but the trial court did not consider that income. The husband argued that it was merely temporary, and he had very high living expenses in Australia. The Court of Appeals held that this was error, and that the income should have been considered for child support purposes.
In calculating the wife’s income, the trial court had included the alimony payments she was receiving, and the wife argued that this was error. The Court agreed, since the plain language of the guidelines excluded this amount from the definition of income.
The wife also argued that there was insufficient evidence to impute income to her. However, the court disagreed and affirmed on this issue. Similarly, the court refused to disturb the lower court’s refusal to impute income to the husband.
Other issues in the appeal involved the children’s tuition, and whether the husband should be required to post some security for future alimony and child support payments. The court of appeals affirmed on these issues as well.
For the reasons stated above, the case was remanded to the trial court. The wife’s request for attorney fees on appeal was refused, and the costs of appeal were assessed equally to both parties.
No. E2013-00161-COA-R3-CV (Tenn.Ct. App. Sept. 24, 2013).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
For more information, see Tennessee Child Support Answers to FAQ’s. For legal updates, news, analysis, and commentary, visit our Tennessee Family Law Blog and its Child Support category. A Memphis child support attorney from the Miles Mason Family Law Group can help you with setting or modifying child support. To schedule your confidential consultation about Tennessee child support, call us today at (901) 683-1850.
