Henry v. Bell

185 A.D.3d 1168

128 N.Y.S.3d 77

In the Matter of LaShieka M. HENRY, Respondent,

v.Terrell K. BELL, Appellant.

527566

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

Decided and Entered: July 9, 2020

Calendar Date: June 11, 2020

Thomas F. Garner, Middleburgh, for appellant.

Law Office of Raysheea T. Turner, Schenectady (Raysheea T. Turner of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Egan Jr., J.P., Lynch, Devine, Pritzker and Reynolds Fitzgerald, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Lynch, J.

Appeal from an order of the Family Court of Albany County (Rivera, J.), entered September 7, 2018, which granted petitioner's application, in a proceeding pursuant to Family Ct. Act article 4, to modify a prior order of support.

Petitioner (hereinafter the mother) and respondent (hereinafter the father) are the parents of a child (born in 2008). In April 2010, the parties consented to an order of support, wherein the father was obliged to provide $25 a week in child support payments. By a December 2011 order, the parties consented to the father additionally paying $50 per month towards child care expenses, with all other terms of the April 2010 order continued. In July 2017, the mother commenced this proceeding seeking an upward modification in child support on the basis that three years had passed since the last order and there was a 15% change in the father's income.¹ After a fact-finding hearing, the Support Magistrate found, among other things, that since the order was last modified in December 2011, modification was proper under Family Ct. Act § 451(3)(b). The Support Magistrate then credited the mother's testimony, noted the father's ability to work full time as a commercial truck driver, and imputed income of $45,000 a year to the father. Thereafter, the Support Magistrate increased the father's total child support obligation to $677.09 per month.

The father then filed objections to the Support Magistrate's determination, contending that the underlying April 2010 support order could not be modified under Family Ct. Act § 451(3)(b) because it predated the October 2010 legislative amendments and also that it was an error to impute income to him of $45,000. Over the father's objections, Family Court found that, since the support order was modified in December 2011, modification under Family Ct. Act § 451(3)(b) was permitted and that the income was properly imputed. The father appeals.

We affirm. Initially, Family Court did not err in modifying the child support based on the passage of time. As relevant here, pursuant to a 2010 amendment to Domestic Relations Law § 236, a "court may modify an order of child support where ... three years have passed since the order was entered, last modified or adjusted" ( Domestic Relations Law § 236[B][9][b][2][ii][A] ; see L 2010, ch. 182, § 7; Gordon–Medley v. Medley, 160 A.D.3d 1146, 1146–1147, 74 N.Y.S.3d 412 [2018] ; see also Family Ct. Act § 451[3][b] ). "The Legislature provided an exception to the application of that amendment whereby, if the child support order incorporated without merging a valid agreement or stipulation of the parties, the relevant amendments regarding the modification of a child support order shall only apply if the incorporated agreement or stipulation was executed on or after [October 13, 2010]" ( Gordon–Medley v. Medley, 160 A.D.3d at 1147, 74 N.Y.S.3d 412 [internal quotation marks, brackets, ellipses and citation omitted] ). Here, the December 2011 order modified the prior April 2010 order, adding $50 per month towards child care expenses and continuing "[a]ll other aspects of the [o]rder of [s]upport." The statutory exception does not apply here and, by modifying the April 2010 order, the December 2011 order created a new order. Accordingly, the mother's petition for an upward modification of the father's child support obligation was properly analyzed in the context of the 2010 amendment (see Gordon–Medley v. Medley, 160 A.D.3d at 1146–1147, 74 N.Y.S.3d 412 ).

Next, contrary to the father's contention, Family Court properly imputed to him an income of $45,000. "A parent's child support obligation is determined by his or her ability to provide support, rather than the parent's current financial situation" ( Mack v. Mack, 169 A.D.3d 1214, 1217, 94 N.Y.S.3d 683 [2019] [internal quotation marks, brackets and citations omitted] ). "Because imputed income more accurately reflects a party's earning capacity and, presumably, his or her ability to pay, it may be attributed to a party as long as the court articulates the basis for imputation and the record evidence supports the calculations" ( Matter of D'Andrea v. Prevost, 128 A.D.3d 1166, 1167, 8 N.Y.S.3d 718 [2015] [internal quotation marks, brackets, ellipsis and citations omitted] ). "[I]n determining a party's child support or spousal maintenance obligation, a court need not rely upon a party's own account of his or her finances, but may exercise its...