Hackworth v. Hackworth
Hackworth v. Hackworth
Opinion
Carolyn Denise Hackworth and Kenny Hackworth were divorced in 1986. The divorce judgment provided, among other things, that the husband would pay $60 weekly in child support for their three minor children. In September 1996, the wife petitioned the trial court to hold the husband in contempt for his failure to pay child support, and she requested that the trial court determine the amount of the child-support arrearage. Following the presentation of ore tenus evidence, the trial court found that the husband's child-support arrearage was $10,000. The wife filed a post-judgment motion seeking interest on the arrearage and seeking a recalculation of the arrearage amount. The trial court denied the post-judgment motion.
The wife appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in calculating the child-support arrearage because, she says, (1) its calculation is not supported by the evidence; and (2) it failed to award interest on the arrearage.
The wife sought an arrearage of over $50,000. The trial court awarded her a $10,000 arrearage. The wife argues that the $10,000 award is inconsistent with the evidence. The determination of the amount of a child-support arrearage, and the allowance of a credit toward that *Page 1117
amount, are within the discretion of the trial court, and absent a showing of an abuse of discretion, the trial court's judgment on those matters will not be reversed. Kuhn v. Kuhn,
The divorce judgment required the husband to pay $60 per week in child support. The wife testified that the husband paid only a few hundred dollars in some years and that in other years he paid no child support at all. The husband testified that he missed only a few payments during a few years and that he had eventually caught up on those missed payments as well. The wife testified that she did not keep records of the husband's payments, and the husband testified that most of his records were destroyed in a fire. We conclude that the wife has failed to show that the finding of a $10,000 arrearage is inconsistent with the evidence.
The wife requested during the hearing and in her post-judgment motion that the trial court award interest on the arrearage. The failure to award interest, when properly requested, on a child-support arrearage is reversible error.State Dep't of Human Resources ex rel. McGhee v. McGhee,
The trial court's judgment is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
Yates and Thompson, JJ., concur.
Robertson, P.J., and Monroe, J., concur in the result.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Carolyn Denise Hackworth v. Kenny Hackworth.
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published