Opinion

D.C.S. v. L.B.

  • 4 So. 3d 513
Court
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama
Filed
Mar 7, 2008
Status
Published
Author
Bryan
On the bench
Pittman, Thompson, Thomas, Bryan, Moore
Cited by
10 cases
Authority
More cited than 17.7%

The opinion

BRYAN, Judge,

concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I concur insofar as this court affirms the judgment awarding the mother a child-support arrearage, denying the father’s motion seeking leave to amend his coun *524 terclaim, denying the father’s claim seeking a credit for pendente lite child support that he had paid, denying his claim seeking joint legal custody of the child, and awarding the mother an attorney’s fee. However, I dissent insofar as this court affirms the judgment imputing income to the father in the amount of $7,414 per month.

The evidence established that the father incurs significant living expenses, totaling approximately $7,400 per month. Although the father testified that he pays those expenses partially from funds derived from D.S. Homes’ business account, he also stated that he obtains funds from a home-equity loan on his primary residence. Moreover, there is no substantial evidence indicating that D.S. Homes had earned a monthly net income of $7,414, that the father had received in-kind payments totaling $7,414 a month, or that the father has the ability to earn a monthly income of $7,414. Although Rule 32(B)(5), Ala. R. Jud. Admin., requires a court to impute income to a parent when it determines that that parent is voluntarily unemployed, the amount of income a court imputes must be supported by substantial evidence. Because there is no substantial evidence to support the juvenile court’s judgment as to the amount of income imputed to the father, I dissent insofar as the juvenile court imputed to the father a monthly income of $7,414. See Brown v. Brown, 960 So.2d 712, 716 (Ala.Civ.App.2006) (reversing the judgment imputing income to a self-employed parent who was the sole shareholder of a business when there was no evidence of the net income of that parent’s business); see also G.B. v. J.H., 915 So.2d 570, 576-77 (Ala.Civ.App.2005) (Bryan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

MOORE, J., concurs.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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