Zheng v. Xia

ZHE ZHENG v. FEIFEI XIA

AC 43948

COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

Submitted on briefs December 3, 2020

May 4, 2021

Lavine, Prescott and Suarez, Js.^*

Syllabus

The plaintiff, whose marriage to the defendant previously had been dissolved, appealed to this court from the trial court's order granting the defendant's postdissolution motion to modify child support, claiming that the court improperly ordered him to pay the defendant a certain percentage of his annual bonus income as supplemental child support. In issuing its order, the trial court deviated from the child support guidelines on the basis of the significant disparity between the parties' incomes. Held that the trial court's reason for deviating from the child support guidelines constituted an abuse of its legal discretion: the court made no specific finding as to why the guidelines were inequitable or inappropriate, save for alluding to the significant disparity between the parties' incomes, and that reason to deviate from the child support guidelines failed as a matter of law because, although our Supreme Court has stated that income disparity may be considered when the custodial parent has the higher income and deviation from the presumptive support amount would enhance the noncustodial parent's ability to foster a relationship with the child, that was not the situation in the present case, in which the unemployed defendant was the custodial parent who had no income aside from child support, and, accordingly, the court improperly considered the disparity between the parties' incomes in ordering the defendant to pay a certain percentage of his net bonus income as supplemental child support.

Procedural History

Action for the dissolution of a marriage, and for other relief, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Stamford-Norwalk, where the court, Hon. Stanley Novack, judge trial referee, rendered judgment dissolving the marriage and granting certain other relief in accordance with the parties' separation agreement; thereafter, the court, M. Moore, J., granted the defendant's motion to modify child support, and the plaintiff appealed to this court. Reversed in part; further proceedings.

Zhe Zheng, self-represented, filed a brief as the appellant (plaintiff).

Opinion

LAVINE, J. The self-represented plaintiff, Zhe Zheng, appeals from the judgment of the trial court granting the postjudgment motion to modify child support filed by the defendant, Feifei Xia.¹ On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly ordered him to pay the defendant 13 percent of his annual bonus as supplemental child support. In issuing its order, the trial court deviated from the child support guidelines on the basis of the "significant disparity in the parties' income." The reason to deviate given by the court is not a permissible rationale under the child support guidelines and Maturo v. Maturo, 296 Conn. 80, 99-103, 995 A.2d 1 (2010). We therefore reverse in part the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for further proceedings.

The following facts and procedural history, as disclosed by the record, are relevant to our resolution of the plaintiff's appeal. The parties were married in Stamford on March 28, 2010. Their only child was born in September, 2011. On January 26, 2012, the plaintiff commenced an action for dissolution of marriage on the basis of irretrievable breakdown. At the time the action was commenced, the plaintiff was employed as a hedge fund analyst, and the defendant was a law student. The parties entered into a separation agreement that included a detailed parenting plan, which the trial court, Hon. Stanley Novak, judge trial referee, incorporated into the uncontested judgment of dissolution rendered on July 23, 2013. Pursuant to the agreement, the parties share joint legal custody of their child, who is in the primary physical custody of the defendant. Judge Novak, pursuant to the separation agreement, ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant unallocated alimony and child support in the amount of $1600 per month until August 2, 2014. On May 13, 2015, the court, Tindill, J., ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant $161 per week in child support. Since that time, the parties have filed numerous motions for orders of contempt and motions to modify child support. The present appeal concerns the motion to modify that was filed in early 2020.²

On January 22, 2020, the defendant, representing herself, filed a motion to modify child support (motion to modify), in which she represented that the plaintiff was a partner in a hedge fund who receives annual income consisting of an annual base salary, end-of-year bonuses, and partnership distributions. She also represented that, on June 29, 2017, a family support magistrate, Wayne R. Keeney, ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant child support in the amount of $273 per week and lump sum, supplemental child support of $10,868, which was 12.97 percent of his net bonus. In her motion to modify, the defendant claimed that, as of January 15, 2020, there had been a substantial change in circumstances because the plaintiff's annual base salary hadincreased from $200,000 to $250,000 and because his 2019 bonus income was $466,418. The defendant, therefore, sought an upward modification of the plaintiff's child support obligation, specifically, that his basic child support obligation be increased to an amount consistent with his new gross annual income and that he pay supplemental lump sum child support that he owes on his 2019 bonus. The defendant represented that she is not employed³ and has no income other than child support. On February 5, 2020, the self-represented parties appeared before the court, M. Moore, J., on the motion to modify.⁴

Judge Moore commenced the hearing by stating that she had "received the child support guidelines from family services, and pursuant to these guidelines . . . the [presumptive] child support is $416 per week."⁵ The plaintiff questioned the percentage of the increase in child support because the increase was greater than the percentage increase in his base salary. The court explained to the plaintiff how the amount of child support is calculated. The plaintiff stated in response that, for the past couple of years, his base salary was used to calculate weekly child support because that amount was relatively stable. He also stated that his bonus varies "quite differently every year" and, for that reason, a lump sum, supplemental payment was made for each year in which he received a bonus. The plaintiff argued that his net income was more than $4000 per week and that the maximum amount under the child support guidelines is 12 percent of his net income. In response, the court stated: "So when your . . . net income [exceeds the highest amount on] the child support guidelines [schedule], I can deviate. I can determine based on all the factors what the child support figure is." The plaintiff, who remarried and has a child (qualified child) with his new wife, stated that he had one qualified child to consider and that he believed 10 percent of his net income was the proper percentage to use. The court stated that the child support guidelines worksheet provided to it had considered the plaintiff's qualified child.⁶

The plaintiff represented that his net income from the $466,418 gross bonus that he received in 2019 was $234,736. In response to the court's inquiry as to whether the defendant agreed with the figures, the defendant stated that she agreed with the gross amount but disagreed with the plaintiff's self-reported net income for two reasons: first, that the child support guidelines provide that the deductions should consider taxes and credits and that the plaintiff had utilized the maximum tax deductions without considering tax credits, and, second, that the plaintiff received "a lot of credits back." The court stated that it understood the defendant's objection.⁷ At the time of the hearing, the plaintiff had not yet filed his 2019 tax returns. The defendant presented the court with copies of past orders regarding the plaintiff's supplemental child sup-port obligations, which demonstrated a range of percentages to be paid on various amounts of the plaintiff's annual bonus income.⁸ On the basis of past orders, the defendant requested that the plaintiff pay 12 percent of his net bonus as lump sum, supplemental child support.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Moore stated in relevant part: "After conducting a hearing, the court finds a substantial change in circumstance and grants the defendant's motion for modification of child support based on the plaintiff's increase in income. The court finds the plaintiff's income for 2019 to be $666,000 gross as shown on his financial affidavit. The court finds the presumptive child support to be $416 per week and orders the plaintiff to pay said sum weekly. The court makes the finding that the application of child support guidelines in this case is inequitable and inappropriate. The court orders that the plaintiff must pay to the defendant 13 percent of his net bonuses as additional child support annually. This order is a deviation from the guidelines based on coordination of total family support and significant disparity in the parties' income. . . . [The plaintiff] shall pay . . . 13 percent of his net bonus to the defendant within seven days of his receipt of said bonus annually as additional child support. . . . The court finds [that] the plaintiff owes the defendant $30,115.68, equal to 13 percent of his bonus for 2019."⁹ The court also ordered that, in future years, the plaintiff will be obligated to pay 13 percent of any bonus income he receives as lump sum, supplemental child support. The plaintiff appealed.

On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly (1) ordered him to pay 13 percent of his net 2019 bonus income and future bonus income as supplemental child support, (2) abused...