Chung v. Adetayo
| Docket Number | 2023-00573,Docket No. F-2709-21 |
| Decision Date | 29 November 2023 |
| Parties | In the Matter of Alicia Chung, respondent, v. Adebowale Adetayo, appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Pryor Cashman LLP, New York, NY (Karen Platt of counsel), for appellant
Harold, Salant, Strassfield & Rotbard, LLP, White Plains NY (Jerold C. Rotbard of counsel), for respondent
COLLEEN D. DUFFY, J.P., CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, HELEN VOUTSINAS LAURENCE L. LOVE, JJ
DECISION & ORDER
In a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 4, the father appeals from an order of the Family Court, Westchester County (Arlene Katz, J.), entered December 16, 2022. The order, insofar as appealed from, denied the father's objections to so much of an amended order of the same court (Carol Ann Jordan, S.M.) dated July 28, 2022, as, after a hearing, directed the father to pay basic child support in the sum of $5,342 per month, child care expenses in the sum of $1,310.40 per month, and retroactive support, including, inter alia, basic child support and child care expenses, in the sum of $64,290.80.
ORDERED that the order entered December 16, 2022, is modified, on the law, on the facts, and in the exercise of discretion, (1) by deleting the provision thereof denying the father's objection to so much of the amended order dated July 28, 2022, as directed the father to pay basic child support in the sum of $5,342 per month, and substituting therefor a provision granting that objection to the extent of vacating that portion of the amended order dated July 28, 2022, and directing the father to pay basic child support in the sum of $2,406.69 per month, (2) by deleting the provision thereof denying the father's objection to so much of the amended order dated July 28, 2022, as directed the father to pay child care expenses in the sum of $1,310.40 per month, and substituting therefor a provision granting that objection to the extent of vacating that portion of the amended order dated July 28, 2022, and directing the father to pay child care expenses in the sum of $856 per month, and (3) by deleting the provision thereof denying the father's objection to so much of the amended order dated July 28, 2022, as directed the father to pay retroactive support, including, inter alia, basic child support and child care expenses, in the sum of $64,290.80, and substituting therefor a provision granting that objection and vacating that portion of the amended order dated July 28, 2022; as so modified, the order dated December 16, 2022, is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs to the father, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court, Westchester County, for a recalculation of the amount of retroactive support, including, inter alia, basic child support and child care expenses, owed by the father in accordance herewith.
The parties are the parents of one child, born in 2018. In April 2021, the mother filed a petition for child support. In an order dated January 20, 2022, after a hearing, the Support Magistrate, among other things, directed the father to pay basic child support in the sum of $3,000 per month, to pay his pro rata share of child care expenses in the sum of $1,310.40 per month, and to pay retroactive support, including, inter alia, basic support and child care expenses, in the sum of $42,115.62. The father filed objections to the Support Magistrate's order. The Family Court denied the father's objections, but remitted the matter to the Support Magistrate to issue "an amended or clarified findings of fact, and, if necessary, an amended order," finding that it was "not clear how" the Support Magistrate "arrived at the sum of $3,000 per month for basic support."
In an amended order dated July 28, 2022, the Support Magistrate calculated the father's basic child support obligation to be $5,342 per month by applying the statutory percentage to the parties' total combined income in excess of the statutory cap. The Support Magistrate further determined that the mother had incurred child care expenses in the sum of $1,680 per month, and directed the father to pay his pro rata share of those expenses in the sum of $1,310.40 per month. The Support Magistrate stated, in effect, that all awards were effective February 1, 2022, and directed the father to pay retroactive support, including, inter alia, basic support and child care expenses, in the sum of $64,290.80.
The father filed objections to the Support Magistrate's amended order, contending, inter alia, that the Support Magistrate should have applied the statutory percentage to the parties' combined income up to the statutory cap of $154,000, with no further child support obligation based on the combined income over that amount, and that the Support Magistrate erred in directing him to pay $1,310.40 per month as his pro rata share of child care expenses because the mother did not submit sufficient evidence demonstrating that she actually incurred those expenses. In an order entered ...
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