Morosko v. Willis, Unpublished Decision (6-25-2003)
Morosko v. Willis, Unpublished Decision (6-25-2003)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 3} After initially waiving child support, appellant filed a motion for child support on September 17, 1999. In a journal entry dated July 24, 2000, appellee was ordered to pay child support in the amount of $175 per month.
{¶ 4} In 2002, at appellant's request, the Child Support Enforcement Agency ("CSEA") conducted an administrative review of child support. The CSEA issued a recommendation on May 20, 2002, increasing appellee's child support obligation to $344.96 per month plus an administrative fee. On May 24, 2002, appellee filed a request for court review of CSEA's recommendation. After a hearing, the magistrate issued a decision on July 30, 2002, recommending that appellee pay child support to appellant in the amount of $264.53 per month plus an administrative fee, which is a $40.00 per month deviation downward from the amount specified in the support guidelines. Appellant timely filed objections to the magistrate's decision and appellee responded to appellant's objections. The trial court overruled appellant's objections to the magistrate's decision and made the magistrate's decision the order of the trial court in an entry dated October 21, 2002.
{¶ 5} Appellant timely appealed to this Court, setting forth two assignments of error for review.
{¶ 6} In his first assignment of error, appellant argues that the magistrate failed to provide the trial court with a sufficient basis for adopting his decision. This Court disagrees.
{¶ 7} The three cases appellant cites to support his argument were decided prior to July 1, 1995, and, therefore, refer to the prior version of Civ.R. 53(E). Civ.R. 53(E) was amended effective July 1, 1995. The prior version of this rule required that the referee's report contain "findings of fact sufficient for the trial court to make an independent analysis of the issues." Jordan v. Jordan (June 6, 1996), 4th Dist. No. 95CA2333. The current version of Civ.R. 53 provides: "Unless specifically required by the order of reference, a magistrate is not required to prepare any report other than the magistrate's decision." Civ.R. 53 no longer requires the magistrate to set out findings of fact sufficient to enable the trial court to make an independent analysis of the issues. SeeBell v. Bell (June 24, 1998), 9th Dist. No. 2680-M; Burke v. Brown, 4th Dist. No. 01CA731, 2002-Ohio-6164. Parties to a proceeding before a magistrate may request separate findings of fact and conclusions of law under Civ.R. 52. "Once such a request is made, the magistrate must include findings of fact and conclusions of law in its decision." Perkov. Perko, 11th Dist. Nos. 2001-G-2403, 2002-G-2435 and 2002-G-2436,2003-Ohio-1877, at ¶ 20, citing Burke v. Brown, 4th Dist. No. 01CA731, 2002-Ohio-6164. This Court stated in Bell:
"The magistrate is not required to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law unless (1) required by the order of reference; (2) requested by a party pursuant to Civ.R. 52; or (3) required by law." (Citation omitted.)
{¶ 8} R.C.
{¶ 9} In his second assignment of error, appellant argues that the judgment of the trial court was against the manifest weight of the evidence. This Court finds this assignment to be without merit.
{¶ 10} "It is well established that a trial court's decision regarding child support obligations falls within the discretion of the trial court and will not be disturbed absent a showing of an abuse of discretion." Pauly v. Pauly (1997),
{¶ 11} R.C.
{¶ 12} The amount of child support calculated pursuant to the basic child support schedule and applicable worksheet is "rebuttably presumed" to be the correct amount of child support due. R.C.
{¶ 13} Therefore, "the determination to deviate from the amount calculated from the worksheet is twofold; the court must find that the amount would be unjust or inappropriate and determine that the amount would not be in the best interest of the child." Brown v. Brown, 9th Dist. No. 02CA0030, 2003-Ohio-239, at ¶ 9, citing Paton v. Paton
(2001),
{¶ 14} In addition, R.C.
"The court shall consider extraordinary circumstances and other factors or criteria if it deviates from the amount described in division (A)(1) of this section[.]"
{¶ 15} R.C.
"For the purposes of this section, `extraordinary circumstances of the parents' includes all of the following:
"(1) The amount of time the children spend with each parent;
"(2) The ability of each parent to maintain adequate housing for the children;
"(3) Each parent's expenses, including child care expenses, school tuition, medical expenses, dental expenses, and any other expenses the court considers relevant;
"(4) Any other circumstances the court considers relevant."
{¶ 16} R.C.
"The court may consider any of the following factors in determining whether to grant a deviation * * *:
"(G) Disparity in income between parties or households;
"(H) Benefits that either parent receives from remarriage or sharing living expenses with another person;
"(J) Significant in-kind contributions from a parent, including, but not limited to, direct payment for lessons, sports equipment, schooling, or clothing;
"(L) The standard of living and circumstances of each parent and the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage continued or had the parents been married[.]"
{¶ 17} In its journal entry, the trial court stated, in relevant part:
"In this case, the record supports the conclusion that the guideline amount of support is unjust or inappropriate and not in the best interest of the child. In deciding to grant a deviation, there are several relevant factors that were considered in this case. There are significant in-kind contributions from Mother, including direct support of schooling and sporting events and payment of clothing for the child. R.C.
"* * *
"1. Effective March 1, 2002, Petitioner-Mother, Paula Willis shall have a child support obligation of $264.53 per month, plus a 2% processing charge, for a total of $269.82 per month. This is a $40.00 per month deviation from the guideline support of $304.53 due to the many things that Petitioner Willis purchases for Joshua throughout the year. R.C.
{¶ 18} Appellant argues that the expenses submitted by appellee in her request for a deviation are not "significant" or "extraordinary." To support her request for a deviation, appellee submitted receipts showing her payment of various expenses for the child including prescriptions, projects for school, school pictures, and special clothing for sporting activities. With regard to child support in a shared parenting situation, there is no bright-line test to determine when a deviation is warranted. See Walker v. Walker, 5th Dist. No. 02CAF04019,2002-Ohio-5293. However, R.C.
Judgment affirmed.
SLABY, P.J.
WHITMORE, J. CONCUR
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.