Hamilton v. Hamilton, WD
| Decision Date | 05 November 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 817 S.W.2d 937 |
| Parties | John Denis HAMILTON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Janis Marie HAMILTON, Respondent-Respondent. 44346. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Michael P. Riley, Carson & Coil, Jefferson City, for petitioner-appellant.
Vonnieta E. Trickey, Hyder, Bratten and Trickey, Jefferson City, for respondent-respondent.
Before LOWENSTEIN, C.J., and SHANGLER and TURNAGE, JJ.
John Hamilton filed a motion to modify a previously modified dissolution decree by eliminating the requirement that he pay maintenance and to require Janis Hamilton to pay child support. Janis filed a cross-motion to modify by increasing her maintenance award. The court increased the amount of maintenance John was to pay from $350.00 to $400.00 per month and ordered Janis to pay $100.00 per month for the support of one child. John appeals and contends the court erred in failing to eliminate the maintenance payment and in failing to follow Rule 88.01 as to the amount of child support Janis was ordered to pay. Affirmed.
The marriage of John and Janis was dissolved in February, 1985, and by that decree John was ordered to pay maintenance of $550.00 per month to Janis. John was awarded the custody of two minor children, but there was no order for child support to be paid by Janis.
The decree was modified in February, 1989, by reducing the amount of maintenance to $350.00 per month.
Evidence on the present motion was largely undisputed. At the time of the hearing John testified that his monthly income from his work as a pharmacist was $3,458.00. Since the prior modification, John had filed for bankruptcy both as to his business and personally. At the time of the previous modification his monthly income was about $3,000.00 and in addition he had certain benefits from his business such as the use of a car which he estimated gave him an annual income of about $60,000.00. Janis had a monthly income of $971.00 at the time of the previous modification and at the hearing on this motion stated her monthly income was $1,156.00. This represented her salary from the state of $1,043.00 and interest on funds received from her family.
John submitted an income and expense statement showing monthly expenses of $4,508.00, including college expenses for the two boys.
Janis filed an income and expense account which showed expenses of $1,358.00 per month. In John's bankruptcy action, his interest bearing promissory note payable to Janis in the amount of $12,500.00 was discharged together with attorney fees which John had been ordered to pay Janis' attorneys.
John first contends the court erred in failing to eliminate the payment of maintenance to Janis because his income had been reduced from over $60,000.00 a year to $3,458.00 per month. In addition, he argues that Janis' income had increased and that he was putting two children through college on his income alone.
As for the education of the two boys, one of the boys has turned 22 and child support is no longer required to be paid for that child. The other boy is 21 and because he is in college child support is still payable. Section 452.340.5, RSMo Cum.Supp.1990.
Janis contends that her employment with the state does not hold any prospect for significant advancement in pay and that her expenses exceed her income at the present time.
While John's income had decreased from the date of the last modification, he is still earning over $3,400.00 per month. As a pharmacist he is able to enjoy steady employment at a good salary. By contrast, Janis is a state employee without the prospect of significant advancement in pay. Further, there was evidence from which the court could have found that Janis is not able to meet her monthly needs on her income and for that reason the court did not err in failing to terminate maintenance payments. By the same token the evidence supports ...
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