Campbell v. Campbell, WD

• Decision Date: 16 July 1991
• Docket Number: No. WD,WD
• Citation: Campbell v. Campbell, 811 S.W.2d 504 (Mo. App. 1991)
• Parties: Rebecca Jayne CAMPBELL, Appellant, v. Charles Robert CAMPBELL, Respondent. 44104.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 504

811 S.W.2d 504

Rebecca Jayne CAMPBELL, Appellant, v. Charles Robert CAMPBELL, Respondent.

No. WD 44104.

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.

July 16, 1991.

Michael X. Edgett, Clinton, for appellant.

Robert L. Cox, Clinton, for respondent.

Before KENNEDY, P.J., and SHANGLER and ULRICH, JJ.

SHANGLER, Judge.

The mother appeals from an order that modified a decree of dissolution to increase the obligation of the father for child support. She contends that the trial court erred in awarding a level of child support that was less than the amount calculated under Civil Procedure Form No. 14 without entering a finding that the amount so calculated, after consideration of all relevant factors, was unjust or inappropriate.

The parties were married and two children were born to them. The mother filed a petition for legal separation, which was granted, and custody of the children was awarded her. The court ordered the father to pay $175 per month per child for support. The decree of legal separation was then converted into a decree of dissolution of marriage.

On April 12, 1990, the mother filed a motion to modify the decree to increase the child support payments. She claimed that the cost of rearing the children had increased in the two-and-one-half years since the decree of legal separation, and that the promulgation of the child support guidelines by the supreme court in Rule 88.01 constituted a change of circumstance that made the present level of child support to her unreasonable.

The evidence on the motion showed that the gross monthly income of the mother was $1,139.56, and that her net monthly income after taxes was $859.69. She also testified that her total monthly expenses were $1,844.29. The father testified that his annual gross salary was $26,165, and that his net income after taxes was $1,863.75 per month. He also testified that his monthly expenses were $1,788 before the payment of child support.

The court received as an exhibit Civil Procedure Form No. 14, which calculated the presumptive child support amount to be paid by the father. In this case, the completed form indicated the total sum of $511.02 per month for the two children. The trial court nevertheless increased the father's obligation for child support to $220 per child per month, for a total of $440 per month. It was $71.02 less than the $511 per month for two children calculation under Form No. 14. He was also ordered to pay $400 to the mother as an attorney fee.

On this appeal, the mother claims that the trial court erred by ordering a level of child support that was less than the amount calculated under Form No. 14 without entering a written or specific finding that the amount the form calculated, after considering all relevant factors, was unjust or inappropriate. Her claim rests on the terms of Rule 88.01(e):

. . . . .

There is a rebuttable presumption that the amount of child support calculated pursuant to Civil Procedure Form No. 14 is the amount of child support to be awarded in any judicial or administrative proceeding for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or child support. It is sufficient in a particular case to rebut the presumption that the amount of child support calculated pursuant to Civil Procedure Form No. 14 is correct if the court or administrative agency enters in the case a written finding or a specific finding on the record that the amount so calculated, after consideration of all relevant factors, is unjust or inappropriate.

The mother argues that Rule 88.01 requires the trial court to enter a specific finding that the level of child support calculated in Form No. 14 is unjust or inappropriate, in order to overcome the presumption of the correctness of that calculation. The father argues that the presumption of the correctness of an award of child support calculated under Rule 88.01 is merely procedural, so that the rule only "suggests" such a finding as a "simple manner in which the presumption may be deemed rebutted," but not the only manner. The father argues that the presumption may also be rebutted by the record as in any court-tried case, on the principle that fact issues upon which no specific findings are made are considered to have been found in accordance with the result reached. Rule 73.01(a)(2).

Rule 88.01, although itself a rule of procedure, implements the principles of...