In high income cases, unlike alimony, which can be bigger numbers, child support is usually much less. Moreover, since even in high income/over guidelines cases, you have to start by looking at what the child support guidelines would be, as a base amount, and then go up based upon the children’s needs, will the litigation be worth it given that the guidelines allocate the proscribed support based upon percentage shares of income.
The case of D.B. v. T.D.-B., an unreported (non-precedential) Appellate Division case released on December 18, 2024, exemplifies this point.
In this case, the parties agreed upon a support number when they divorced in 2019. The parties later modified child support twice, including in 2021 when alimony ended. At that time, dad agreed to pay $376 per week. There was an additional $16 per week as “this was a high income case” though it is not clear from the opinion whether this was included in or in addition to the $376 noted above. It matters little in any event.
In 2023, litigation ensued, largely because dad wasn’t exercising all of his overnight parenting time and other parenting issues, but child support was thrown into the soup, as well. Ultimately, the trial judge found that dad was making $25,000 more than the last time that support was recalculated and mom was making $7,000 more. Notwithstanding, the trial court found that this was not a change of circumstances.
The Appellate Division disagreed noting:
In reaching this conclusion, the court failed to explain why a $25,000 increase in plaintiff’s gross income and a $7,000 increase in defendant’s gross income was not substantial enough to warrant a review of the level of child support being paid for the parties’ daughter. Also, the court did not explain why the bonus income plaintiff received in 2023, totaling at least $3,000 as set forth in plaintiff’s updated CIS, was not considered when calculating the amount of plaintiff’s increased income.
Accordingly, the Appellate Division remanded the matter to the trial court to:
amplify its findings to explain why an increase in the parties’ incomes of at least $28,000 for plaintiff and $7,000 for defendant since 2021 did not warrant a review of child support.
I think that the Appellate Division decision is legally solid – but is it practically sensible?
For fun, I punched the income numbers discussed in the case into the child support guidelines and came up with child support of about $414 per week – not a lot more than the $376 or $392 from the prior order. Even if you included the additional $16,000 that mom argued should be added to dad’s income, it only bumped it up another $6 per week. Moreover, the combined incomes were only around $11,000 over guidelines, which is reasonably insignificant and probably explained the nominal increases in the past.
So, in this case, there was a motion, an appeal, there will be a remand, and maybe another appeal and at what cost to each side. Say that the child support goes up even $50 per week, retroactive to when the motion was initially filed, it will likely to years, if at all, to ever recoup the fees expended on this exercise.
So I finish this blog post where I started it. Was it worth it?
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Eric Solotoff is the editor of the New Jersey Family Legal Blog and the Co-Chair of the Family Law Department of Fox Rothschild LLP. Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Lawyer and a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Attorneys. Eric is resident in Fox Rothschild’s Morristown, New Jersey office though he practices throughout New Jersey. You can reach Eric at (973) 994-7501, or esolotoff@foxrothschild.com.