In re Marriage of Clark
| Decision Date | 02 September 2021 |
| Docket Number | 37239-1-III |
| Parties | In re the Matter of the Marriage of CHELSEA MARIA CLARK, Respondent, and SHANE NATHANIEL CLARK, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Shane Clark appeals the amount of child support imposed on him by the dissolution court. In doing so, he assigns error to the process by which the court entered the child support. He also argues that substantial evidence did not support the child support ruling. We hold that no procedural errors occurred. Because Shane fails to assign error to any findings of fact we do not address the evidentiary contentions.
Shane and Chelsea Clark married on September 18, 2010. The couple bore two children, a boy born March 17, 2013 and a girl born October 17, 2015. The parties separated on September 20 2018. RP 14. In August 2019, at the time of the underlying proceedings, Shane was 42 years old and Chelsea was 33 years old.
At the start of their marriage, Shane Clark worked as general manager for Spokane Import, a family business. Spokane Import, Rug Doctor, and North Star Hydro Cleaning operated under the same corporate umbrella. Shane played roles in the North Star Hydro Cleaning and Rug Doctor businesses as well. His brother currently owns North Star Hydro Cleaning.
Beginning in 2012, Shane Clark began work as a pharmaceutical sales consultant. He worked for Ferring Pharmaceuticals until 2015 and then for Purdue Pharmaceuticals. In 2017, Shane earned $113, 000. Shane lost employment with Purdue in May 2018 due to a national layoff. Since then Shane has earned income through odd jobs, including selling wine barrels and performing yard work. The work has provided "pretty good money," although he has needed to reach into savings to pay expenses. Report of Proceedings (RP) at 86-88. He does not know the amount of money in his savings at the time of his separation from Chelsea. He estimated that, at the time of trial, only $300 remained in savings.
Shane Clark filed no income tax return in 2018. According to his 2018 W-2, Shane earned $45, 861 in gross wages. A 2018 paystub indicated that Shane's income for 2018 through April 22 of the year totaled $46, 087. He earned $7, 843 in unemployment benefits according to a 2018 1099-G form.
According to Shane Clark, he engaged in no intentional domestic violence toward Chelsea Clark during their marriage. We do not know if he deems unintentional domestic violence to exist.
According to Chelsea Clark, Shane once threatened to kill her, while pointing a firearm at her. Shane also threw a beer bottle at her while she held their son. The bottle dented the wall. Immediately after throwing the beer bottle, Shane strangled Chelsea, then eight months pregnant, and threatened to kill her while their son sat on the bed next to her. Chelsea struggled to her feet and again held her son. Shane then threw a lamp at Chelsea. The lamp struck her head and caused a gash.
During trial, Chelsea Clark recounted other incidents of violence or threats of violence. According to Chelsea, Shane abuses alcohol. He often started drinking in the morning and finished at 3 a.m. the following calendar day. During the marriage, Shane threatened to commit suicide.
During the pendency of the dissolution proceeding, the trial court ordered Shane Clark to obtain a psychological evaluation. During trial, Shane mentioned services at Frontier Behavioral Health. According to Shane, the counseling service diagnosed him with "adaptive disorder, adaptability disorder." RP at 50. He supplied the court no records from the service. Shane guessed he suffered from depression.
After petitioning for a marital dissolution, Chelsea Clark requested an award of temporary child support since both children resided with her. In response to Chelsea Clark's request, Shane failed to file any current financial records or a financial declaration. The court commissioner imputed $7, 834 in income to Shane Clark based on his 2016-17 financial records. The support order ordered Shane to pay $1 566 in monthly child support, $783 for each child, an amount consistent with the standard calculation. The court commissioner calculated Shane's proportional share of children's extraordinary expenses at 73 percent. On the last page of the order, the commissioner wrote, "Mr Clark may come back for review as to his employment issues on finances[.]" Clerk's Papers (CP) at 144. The court commissioner ordered Shane to procure a psychological evaluation.
On August 21, 2019, the superior court conducted a dissolution trial. The trial's purpose was to finalize a parenting plan, a child support order, and property distribution. Shane Clark appeared pro se at trial. Shane challenged the amount of income imputed by the court commissioner for temporary support. He asked the trial court to consider his 2018 financial records. Shane testified that, since his layoff from Purdue Pharmaceuticals in May 2018, he remained unemployed and was currently "[b]etween jobs." RP at 23. He did not testify that he was unable to work. He did not disclose what efforts he undertook to gain employment. He did not explain why he could not return to work in the family business.
Shane Clark failed to present a financial declaration for trial. In violation of the temporary orders, Shane failed to undergo a psychological evaluation.
During closing, Chelsea Clark's counsel intoned:
I'm also asking the Court for the child support order as part of the child support. I didn't really have much of an update from Mr. Clark. So I'm at the same, position, I am stuck, if you will, with Commissioner Chavez's income figures for Mr. Clark and have that continue on.
RP at 210.
At the conclusion of trial, the dissolution court reserved ruling on the issue of child support. The court afforded Shane Clark until August 30 to provide financial records. The court noted that the undisputed testimony showed that Shane lacked employment. Chelsea did not argue that Shane was purposely unemployed as a litigation strategy, and Chelsea might agree that the lack of work related to mental health problems. The court warned Shane that it would rely on the paltry evidence before it when awarding child support if he failed to provide current financial records. The dissolution court directed Chelsea's counsel to prepare the child support order. The court stated it planned to enter orders by September 6.
On August 30, Shane Clark filed two financial declarations. In the financial declarations, Shane declared he did not currently work because of the national layoff from Purdue, a protective order against him, divorce proceedings, and his moving family members during the summer of 2018. The declarations averred that he lacked any income. The declarations listed his expenses. We do not know why Shane supplied two, rather than one comprehensive declaration.
On September 2, 2019, pursuant to the dissolution court's direction, Chelsea Clark's counsel e-mailed the dissolution court's judicial assistant drafts of findings, decree, child support order, and parenting plan. Resp't's Br., App'x A, p. 2. Counsel copied Shane Clark, then unrepresented, at the e-mail used by his own former counsel in contacting him. The e-mail states in full:
Resp't's Br., App'x A, p. 2. This e-mail was not inserted into the clerk's papers. Chelsea Clark's counsel provided this court with the e-mail as an appendix to her brief.
On September 6, 2019, attorney Julie Watts filed a notice of appearance on behalf of Shane Clark. Shane and his counsel appeared at a presentment hearing for final orders that same day. Chelsea's counsel then presented the proposed orders. Shane's counsel requested a continuance so that she could obtain a transcript of the trial court's ruling. Shane argued that his current attorney needed the transcript to determine if the proposed final orders, drafted by counsel for Chelsea Clark, accurately reflected the court's ruling. The trial court granted the continuance and scheduled a presentment hearing for September 13, 2019.
On September 13, 2019, Shane Clark submitted written objections to Chelsea Clark's proposed parenting plan, a proposed order of dissolution, proposed findings and conclusions, and a proposed restraining order. Shane, through counsel repeated the objections during the hearing. Shane presented no alternative child support worksheet or order. He registered no objections to a proposed child support orders or worksheets. Shane later explained he did not object to the proposed child support order because the dissolution court had yet to rule on the amount of support. At the conclusion of the presentment hearing, the trial court promised a ruling in the near future.
On November 13, 2019, the dissolution court signed final orders including dissolution findings of fact and conclusions of law, a dissolution decree, final restraining order, child support schedule worksheets, order for child support, and parenting plan order. With the exception of the restraining order, all the final orders showed Chelsea Clark's counsel's footer.
Finding of fact 5 in the child support order assigned $7, 834 to Shane as net monthly income. Finding of fact 6 read:
This parent's [Shane's] monthly net income is imputed because this parent is voluntarily unemployed. The...
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