TN Dad’s Farm Income Can Be Averaged to Compute Child Support
Tennessee child support law case law summary on income averaging and income determination from the Court of Appeals.
State of Tennessee ex rel. Dawn Moss v. William Moss – Tennessee income averaging for child support income determination
Dawn and William Moss had three children when they were divorced in 2008, two sons born in 1993 and 1997, and a daughter born in 1991. The daughter has a severe disability. The father was named the primary residential parent, and he was also ordered to pay $83 per month in child support. In 2012, both parties filed a motion to modify the child support. The mother’s motion was filed on her behalf by the State of Tennessee.
The trial court found that the father had the ability to earn $5416.66 per month, and that the wife had an ability to earn $1,666.66 per month. Based upon these figures, the court raised the father’s obligation to $223, but applied a downward deviation of $83. Because of the daughter’s disability, the court ordered that the support would continue past the age of 21. The father then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The father first argued that the trial court had erred in imputing income to him without first finding that he was willfully or voluntarily unemployed. However, the appeals court examined the record and concluded that there had been no imputed income, despite the trial court’s use of the words “ability to earn.” Instead, what the trial court had done was average his income over a period of years, which was the correct procedure under the Tennessee child support guidelines.
The father was a farmer, and the trial court had noted that for the four previous years, his income had averaged out to about $60,000 per year.
The appeals court examined the father’s earnings over the years, and concluded that the trial court had acted within its discretion in selecting the method of setting the father’s income.
However, the appeals court did discover one calculation error, and found that the father’s income had averaged about $58,000 rather than almost $61,000 found by the trial court. For that reason, it sent the case back for a recalculation of the father’s obligation.
No. M2013-00393-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 24, 2014).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
For more information, see Averaging Income in Tennessee Child Support Law. For legal updates, news, analysis, and commentary, visit our Tennessee Family Law Blog and its Child Support category. Also, check out 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.
