Good v. Ricardo

• Decision Date: 02 December 2020
• Docket Number: 2020–01452,Docket No. F–3676–17/19B
• Citation: 189 A.D.3d 830,136 N.Y.S.3d 472
• Parties: In the Matter of Catherine GOOD, Respondent, v. Shawn Preston RICARDO, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

189 A.D.3d 830
136 N.Y.S.3d 472

In the Matter of Catherine GOOD, Respondent,
v.
Shawn Preston RICARDO, Appellant.

2020–01452
Docket No. F–3676–17/19B

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Submitted - October 23, 2020
December 2, 2020

136 N.Y.S.3d 473

Shawn Preston Ricardo, Pelham, NY, appellant pro se.

Browde Law, P.C., Chappaqua, N.Y. (Kristen Prata Browde of counsel), for respondent.

ALAN D. SCHEINKMAN, P.J., JOSEPH J. MALTESE, HECTOR D. LASALLE, LINDA CHRISTOPHER, JJ.

136 N.Y.S.3d 474

DECISION & ORDER

In a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 4, the father appeals from an order of the Family Court, Westchester County (Nilda Morales Horowitz, J.), dated December 23, 2019. The order denied the father's objections to an order of the same court (Esther R. Furman, S.M.) dated September 6, 2019, which, after a hearing, granted the mother's petition for an upward modification of the father's child support obligation.

ORDERED that the order dated December 23, 2019, is reversed, on the law, on the facts, and in the exercise of discretion, with costs, the father's objections are granted, the order dated September 6, 2019, is vacated, and the mother's petition for an upward modification of the father's child support obligation is denied.

The parties were married and have two children together. In July 2011, they executed a stipulation of settlement, which was incorporated but not merged into their judgment of divorce dated November 4, 2011. Pursuant to the parties' stipulation, the father's child support obligation was $5,650 per month. In determining the father's child support obligation, the parties agreed to apply the statutory percentage under the Child Support Standards Act (hereinafter CSSA), 25% for two children, to their total combined parental income of $339,023, of which the father's pro rata share was 80%.

In March 2019, the mother commenced this proceeding for an upward modification of the father's child support obligation. After a hearing, in an order dated September 6, 2019, the Support Magistrate granted the petition. The Support Magistrate found that each of the parties' incomes had increased more than 15% since the stipulation was entered, that the combined parental income under the CSSA was $475,389.52, which exceeded the statutory cap of $148,000, and that the father's pro rata share was 72%. The father's child support obligation on the combined parental income up to the statutory cap was $2,220 per month. The Support Magistrate found that application of the statutory child support percentage to the entire amount of combined parental income, resulting in the father's child support obligation being $7,131 per month, was unjust and inappropriate, and thus, she increased the father's child support obligation to $6,650 per month. The father filed objections to the Support Magistrate's order, and in an order dated...