Beamer v. Beamer

• Decision Date: 05 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. COA04-263.,COA04-263.
• Parties: Robert BEAMER, Plaintiff, v. Grace McKay BEAMER (now Roakes), Defendant.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

610 S.E.2d 220

169 NC App. 594

Robert BEAMER, Plaintiff, v. Grace McKay BEAMER (now Roakes), Defendant.

No. COA04-263.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

April 5, 2005.

Knox, Brotherton, Knox & Godfrey, by Peter E. McArdle, Charlotte, for plaintiff-appellant.

Karro, Sellers & Langson, by Julia S. Scheer, Charlotte, for defendant-appellee. GEER, Judge.

Plaintiff Robert Beamer appeals from the trial court's order modifying the amount of child support he was required to pay defendant Grace McKay Roakes. We remand for further findings of fact because the trial court's decision to deviate from the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines ("the Guidelines") is not supported by specific findings of fact as to (1) the reasonable needs of the children and (2) the basis for the amount of child support ultimately awarded.

Facts

Plaintiff and defendant were married on 1 July 1989, but separated on 1 December 1999. They are the parents of two minor children. Plaintiff and defendant entered into a Separation Agreement and Property Settlement on 14 February 2001. This agreement was incorporated into the parties' divorce judgment on 20 August 2001. In the separation agreement, the parties agreed that plaintiff's monthly child support payments would be $1,575.00, an amount computed by applying the Guidelines to plaintiff's gross income of $9,693.00 per month and defendant's gross income of $1,500.00 per month, as stated on the parties' 1999 tax returns. In addition to the basic child support obligation, plaintiff agreed in the separation agreement to be responsible for the children's private school tuition.

On 31 December 2002, the parties entered into a consent order that increased plaintiff's visitation with the children. On 26 February 2003, plaintiff filed a Motion to Modify Child Support pursuant to N.C. Gen.Stat. § 50-13.7 (2003). In his motion, plaintiff alleged a substantial change in circumstances due to (1) "a substantial and involuntary decrease in his income" and (2) the fact that plaintiff had, because of increased visitation, assumed a greater financial responsibility for the children outside of his child support payments. Plaintiff argued that child support should be computed using his current income amount and Worksheet B of the Guidelines (addressing joint or shared custody).

On 30 October 2003, the trial court entered an order agreeing that plaintiff's reduction in income constituted a substantial change in circumstances. After determining that application of Worksheet B of the Guidelines would result in a monthly child support payment of $597.53, the court found that this amount would not meet the reasonable needs of the children and awarded instead $1,110.00 per month. Plaintiff timely appealed from this order.

Discussion

In North Carolina, child support orders are not permanent and may be modified upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances. N.C. Gen.Stat. § 50-13.7(a) ("An order of a court of this State for support of a minor child may be modified or vacated at any time, upon motion in the cause and a showing of changed circumstances by either party or anyone interested...."); Mittendorff v. Mittendorff, 133 N.C.App. 343, 344, 515 S.E.2d 464, 465 (1999) ("Child support orders may be modified only upon a showing of substantial changed circumstances."). These principles apply equally to child support agreements between the parties that have been incorporated into a court order. Walters v. Walters, 307 N.C. 381, 386, 298 S.E.2d 338, 342 (1983) (separation agreements approved by the trial court "are modifiable ... in the same manner as any other judgment in a domestic relations case"); Tyndall v. Tyndall, 80 N.C.App. 722, 723, 343 S.E.2d 284, 284 ("When the parties' child support agreement was incorporated into the divorce judgment it became an order of court that is modifiable only as other judgments involving child custody and support are modifiable."), disc. review denied, 318 N.C. 420, 349 S.E.2d 606 (1986).

In this case, the parties' separation agreement was incorporated into the parties' Amended Judgment of Divorce filed 20 August 2001. Thus the child support provisions could only be modified upon a showing of a substantial change of circumstances.

The trial court determined that "[p]laintiff has sustained a substantial reduction in income" and "[t]his reduction in income constitutes a substantial change in circumstances since August 20, 2001, and justifies modification of this Court's prior Order." See McGee v. McGee, 118 N.C.App. 19, 27, 453 S.E.2d 531, 536

(a "`substantial and involuntary decrease in the income of a non-custodial parent [may], as a matter of law, constitute a substantial change of circumstances authorizing the court to modify a prior order by reducing child-support payments'" (quoting Pittman v. Pittman, 114 N.C.App. 808, 810, 443 S.E.2d 96, 97 (1994))), disc. review denied, 340 N.C. 359, 458 S.E.2d 189 (1995). Defendant has not appealed from this aspect of the trial court's ruling and it is, therefore, binding on appeal.

Once a substantial change in circumstances has been shown by the party seeking modification, the trial court then "proceeds to follow the Guidelines and to compute the appropriate amount of child support." Davis v. Risley, 104 N.C.App. 798, 800, 411 S.E.2d 171, 173 (1991). See also Brooker v. Brooker, 133 N.C.App. 285, 290, 515 S.E.2d 234, 238 (1999)

(after finding a change of circumstances, "the trial court should compute the appropriate amount of child support pursuant to the Guidelines then in effect" (internal quotation marks omitted)). Child support set in accordance with the Guidelines "is conclusively presumed to be in such amount as to meet the reasonable needs of the child and commensurate with the relative abilities of each parent to pay support." Buncombe County ex rel. Blair v. Jackson, 138 N.C.App. 284, 287, 531 S.E.2d 240, 243 (2000).

If a trial court decides to deviate from the Guidelines, it must follow a four-step process:

First, the trial court must determine the presumptive child support amount under the Guidelines. Second, the trial court must hear evidence as to the reasonable needs of the child for support and the relative ability of each parent to provide support. Third, the trial court must determine, by the greater weight of this evidence, whether the presumptive support amount would not meet or would exceed the reasonable needs of the child considering the relative ability of each parent to provide support or would be otherwise unjust or inappropriate. Fourth, following its determination that deviation is warranted, in order to allow effective appellate review, the trial court must enter written findings of fact showing the presumptive child support amount under the Guidelines; the reasonable needs of the child; the relative ability of each party to provide support; and that application of the Guidelines would exceed or would not meet the reasonable needs of the child or would be otherwise unjust or inappropriate.

Sain v. Sain, 134 N.C.App. 460, 465-66, 517 S.E.2d 921, 926 (1999) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).

A trial court's deviation from the Guidelines is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. State ex rel. Fisher v. Lukinoff, 131 N.C.App. 642, 644, 507 S.E.2d 591, 593 (1998). Under this standard of review, the trial court's ruling will be overturned only upon a showing that it was so arbitrary that it could not have been the result of a reasoned decision. Leary v. Leary, 152 N.C.App. 438, 441, 567 S.E.2d 834, 837 (2002). The trial court must, however, make sufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law to allow the reviewing court to determine whether a judgment, and the legal conclusions that underlie it, represent a correct application of the law. Id. at 441-42, 567 S.E.2d at 837.

Here, the trial court first found that plaintiff's monthly support obligation would equal $597.53 under the Guidelines. The court next concluded:

By the greater weight of the evidence, the application of the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines would not meet the reasonable needs of the minor children considering the relative ability of each parent to provide support and would otherwise be unjust or inappropriate in that the parties contemplated a level of support in

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