Emancipation And Alimony Termination Application Results in Child Support Modification

In Jackson v. Jackson, the Plaintiff appealed from a 2013 post-judgment matrimonial Order regarding the emancipation of the parties' daughter and the termination of alimony payments to the Defendant. The Family Court judge denied the emancipation request after finding that the Defendant's documentation showed the child was enrolled as a full-time college student and recalculated the child support obligation. N.J.S.A. 9:17B-3; Newburgh v. Arrigo, 88 N.J. 529, 543, 443 A.2d 1031 (1982); Gac v. Gac, 186 N.J. 535, 543, 897 A.2d 1018 (2006); Moehring v. Maute, 268 N.J. Super. 447, 480-81, 633 A.2d 1055 (Ch. Div. 1993). The judge also denied the Plaintiff's request to terminate alimony. On appeal, the Plaintiff challenged the income that was used to compute his child support obligation. Upon review, the Appellate Division discovered that the documentation that was relied upon by the Family Court judge to fix the Plaintiff's child support obligations revealed a gross weekly income of $1,219, which is the same amount that the Plaintiff reported on his case information statement submitted to the court. The Plaintiff's 2012 W-2 showed a gross annual income of $63,280 which is $1,217 a week. Therefore, the Appellate Court did not find any error on the N.J. Child Support Guidelines worksheet that was used to calculate the support obligation. The calculation did neglect to include the alimony paid by Plaintiff of $125 a week. According to the Appellate Court, the calculation should have deducted the alimony payment from the Plaintiff's income and included it within the Defendant's income. The child support calculation also failed to include the allocation of payments made for the child's health insurance. Therefore, the child support obligation of $183 a week was wrong and was vacated and recalculated. The Appellate Court affirmed the Family Court's Order using the Plaintiff's weekly income of $1,217 and reversed the Order that directed that the child support obligation was $183 a week and remanded the case back to the Family Court to recalculate the support accounting for alimony and the cost of health insurance. If you anticipate that it may be beneficial to you to seek a post-judgment modification of your child support obligation it is critical that you seek out the advice of an experienced attorney before moving forward. For more information about post-judgment modification, child support, emancipation, divorce, or other family law matters in New Jersey visit DarlingFirm.com. This blog is for informational purposes and in no way is intended to replace the advice of an attorney.