Jessica Kulibert v. Timothy J. Kulibert (mem. dec.)

MEMORANDUM DECISION
FILED
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Jan 19 2021, 8:50 am
Memorandum Decision shall not be regarded as
CLERK
precedent or cited before any court except for the Indiana Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
purpose of establishing the defense of res judicata, and Tax Court
collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Shana D. Paula Philip C. Sheward
Danica L. Eyler Silvia B. Miller
Jacob C. Salathe Allen Wellman McNew Harvey, LLP
Webster and Garino, LLC Greenfield, Indiana
Westfield, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Jessica Kulibert, January 19, 2021
Appellant/Petitioner, Court of Appeals Case No.
20A-DR-1465
Appeal from the Hancock Circuit
v. Court
The Hon. R. Scott Sirk, Judge
Timothy Kulibert, The Hon. Cody Coombs,
Commissioner
Appellee/Respondent.
Trial Court Cause No.
30C01-1609-DR-1465
Bradford, Chief Judge.
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Case Summary
[1] Jessica and Timothy Kulibert (“Mother” and “Father”) were married in 2007
and had two children while married (“the Children”). In 2016, Mother
petitioned for dissolution of her marriage to Father, and the trial court issued its
dissolution decree in November of 2018. In its dissolution decree, the trial
court, inter alia, awarded Father primary physical custody of the Children and
ordered Mother to pay $244.00 per week in child support to be reduced later to
$161.00 per week. The reduction was due to a credit Mother was to receive for
overnight visitation with the Children when it resumed. While the credit was
eventually applied, the overnight visitation never actually occurred.
Meanwhile, Mother was not granted a credit against her child-support
obligation for social security disability (“SSD”) benefits received by Father on
behalf of the Children by virtue of his being the custodial parent.
[2] In January of 2020, Mother petitioned for a modification of child support to
reflect the SSD credit she had not been receiving and to have it applied
retroactively to the date of the dissolution decree. While Father agreed that
Mother was entitled to receive the SSD credit, he noted that Mother had been
receiving the overnights credit to which she was not entitled and argued that the
two errors effectively cancelled each other out in that correcting both would not
alter Mother’s child-support obligation more than the 20% required to change
her obligation. In July of 2020, the trial court agreed with Father and denied
Mother’s petition to modify child support. Mother argues that the trial court
abused its discretion in denying her petition to have her SSD credit applied
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retroactively against her child-support obligation. Because we disagree, we
affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
[3] On September 30, 2016, Mother petitioned for the dissolution of her marriage
to Father, to whom she had been married since July of 2007 and with whom
she had the Children. On September 14, 2018, and October 19, 2018, the trial
court held the final hearing on the dissolution and other pending matters. On
November 26, 2018, the trial court issued its dissolution decree, in which it,
inter alia, (1) took notice of two pending children-in-need-of-services (“CHINS”)
cases involving the Children; (2) awarded primary physical custody to Father;
and (3) set Mother’s weekly child-support payment at $244.00 per week, to be
lowered again to $161.00 per week upon resolution of the CHINS cases. The
lowering of Mother’s obligation was on the basis that overnight visits would
resume when the CHINS cases were resolved, allowing her to receive a weekly
credit of $82.78. Although the credit was eventually applied, overnight
visitation did not resume.
[4] On January 23, 2020, Mother moved for modification of child support,
requesting a retroactive modification of support to take into consideration that
Father had been receiving SSD benefits on behalf of the Children but that those
benefits had not been included in the trial court’s calculation of child support on
November 26, 2018. On June 5, 2020, the trial court held a hearing on
Mother’s motion to modify child support. During the June 5, 2020, hearing,
Mother orally withdrew her motion to modify, stating “we don’t think there’s
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been a 20% uh difference making a substantial change in circumstances[.]” Tr.
Vol. II p. 7. Mother nonetheless argued that the SSD benefits received by
Father should be retroactively applied to modify Mother’s child-support
obligation back to July of 2018. Father testified that while Mother had been
receiving credit for overnight visits pursuant to the dissolution decree, no such
visits had actually occurred. While Father conceded that Mother was entitled
to a credit for the SSD payments made to him, he argued that the error was
effectively cancelled out by her erroneous receipt of a credit for overnight visits
that had not actually occurred.
[5] On July 9, 2020, the trial court denied Mother’s motion to modify child support
in an order that provides, in part, as follows:
8. The original child support obligation calculated by the Court in
its Decree of Dissolution included an incorrect credit for Mother
of one hundred four (104) overnights with the children even
though Mother was not and has not been exercising any overnight
parenting time with the children. If the court corrects the
overnight credit error and equitably applies that correction
retroactively back to the date of the Decree, Mother’s child
support obligation would increase in an amount nearly equal to
the amount of SSDI periodic payments received by Father on
behalf of the children. A retroactive application of periodic SSDI
payments received by Father and a retroactive correction of
Mother’s child support obligation would leave Mother’s arrearage
nearly identical to what it is now.
9. If the Court were to grant Mother’s motion to Modify Support,
Mother’s child support obligation would increase to $333.51 per
week and the $156.00 per week that Father receives in SSDI
payments would then reduce Mother’s child support obligation to
$177.23 per week—an amount less than 20% difference from
Mother’s current child support obligation [of $161.00 per week].
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Appellee’s App. pp. 52–53.
Discussion and Decision
I. Subject-Matter Jurisdiction and Waiver
[6] Father contends that we do not have jurisdiction over Mother’s appeal because
she is actually appealing from the dissolution decree issued in November of
2018, rendering her appeal untimely. Indiana Appellate Rule 9(A)(1) provides,
in part, that “[a] party initiates an appeal by filing a Notice of Appeal with the
Clerk (as defined in Rule 2(D)) within thirty (30) days after the entry of a Final
Judgment is noted in the Chronological Case Summary.” We conclude,
however, that Father’s characterization of the record is not accurate. While it is
true that Mother takes issue with a ruling that appeared first in the dissolution
decree, she is actually appealing from the trial court’s denial of her motion to
modify child support, from which there is no question she timely appealed.
[7] Father also contends that Mother has waived her arguments for appellate
review for failing to raise them in the trial court. It is generally true that an
issue raised for the first time on appeal is waived for review. See, e.g., Plank v.
Cmty. Hosps. of Ind., Inc., 981 N.E.2d 49, 53 (Ind. 2013) (“And appellate review
presupposes that a litigant’s arguments have been raised and considered in the
trial court.”). Mother’s core argument, i.e., that she has improperly been denied
a credit against her child-support obligation by virtue of SSD payments made to
Father, was, at the very least, raised and litigated during the trial court’s
evaluation of her motion to modify child support, the denial of which she now
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appeals. Father has failed to establish either that we lack jurisdiction over
Mother’s appeal or that she has waived her arguments for appellate review.
II. Whether the Trial Court Abused its
Discretion in Denying Mother’s Motion for
Modification of Child Support
[8] Where, as apparently happened here, the trial court sua sponte enters specific
findings of fact and conclusions, we review its findings and conclusions to
determine whether the evidence supports the findings, and whether the findings
support the judgment. Fowler v. Perry, 830 N.E.2d 97, 102 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).
We will set aside the trial court’s findings and conclusions only if they are
clearly erroneous. Id. A judgment is clearly erroneous when a review of the
record leaves us with a firm conviction that a mistake was made. Id. We
neither reweigh the evidence nor assess the witnesses’ credibility, and consider
only the evidence most favorable to the judgment. Id. Moreover,
findings made sua sponte control only as to the issues they cover[,]
and a general judgment will control as to the issues upon which
there are no findings. A general judgment entered with findings
will be affirmed if it can be sustained on any legal theory
supported by the evidence.
Id. (citation omitted).
[9] Indiana Code section 31-16-8-1 provides, in part, as follows:
(a) Provisions of an order with respect to child support or an order
for maintenance […] may be modified or revoked.
(b) Except as provided in section 2 of this chapter, and subject to
subsection (d), modification may be made only:
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(1) upon a showing of changed circumstances so substantial
and continuing as to make the terms unreasonable; or
(2) upon a showing that:
(A) a party has been ordered to pay an amount in child
support that differs by more than twenty percent (20%) from
the amount that would be ordered by applying the child
support guidelines; and
(B) the order requested to be modified or revoked was
issued at least twelve (12) months before the petition
requesting modification was filed.
[10] Moreover,
[a] trial court’s calculation of child support is presumptively valid.
Young v. Young, 891 N.E.2d 1045, 1047 (Ind. 2008). We will
reverse a trial court’s decision in child support matters only if it is
clearly erroneous or contrary to law. Ind. Trial Rule 52(A);
Young, 891 N.E.2d at 1047. A decision is clearly erroneous if it is
clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances
that were before the trial court. Young, 891 N.E.2d at 1047.
When a trial court enters formal findings, we observe the
following regimen:
[C]ourts reviewing support orders contained in
judgments entered under T.R. 52 are not at liberty
simply to determine whether the facts and
circumstances contained in the record support the
judgment. Rather the evidence must support the
specific findings made by the court which in turn
must support the judgment.... [I]f the findings and
conclusions entered by the court, even when
construed most favorably toward the judgment, are
clearly inconsistent with it, the decision must be set
aside regardless of whether there was evidence
adduced at trial which would have been sufficient to
sustain the decision.
Id. (quotation omitted).
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Ashworth v. Ehrgott, 934 N.E.2d 152, 157–58 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010). As we have
noted, the Indiana Supreme Court has “fully endorsed a flexible methodology
that allows a trial court to use its discretion when crediting a non-custodial
parent’s child support obligation.” Barrand v. Martin, 120 N.E.3d 565, 572 (Ind.
Ct. App. 2019) (citing Johnson v. Johnson, 999 N.E.2d 56, 62 (Ind. 2013)), trans.
denied.
[11] Here, the trial court’s judgment was based on its findings that (1) Mother had
not been receiving credit for the $156.28 per week in SSD benefits received by
Father but that (2) Mother had been receiving credit for overnight visits that
had not actually occurred. The upshot of this is that, had Mother been given
credit for the SSD payments but denied credit for overnights, her weekly child-
support payment would have been $177.23 ($331.51-$156.28) instead of the
$161.00 she had been paying. There does not seem to be any dispute about any
of this: the parties agree that Mother is entitled to receive a credit for the SSD
payments to Father, and Mother does not even argue that she is—or ever was—
actually entitled to receive the overnight-visitation credit she has been receiving
from some point after November of 2018.
[12] The question is whether the trial court’s resolution—concluding that two errors
essentially balanced out—amounts to an abuse of discretion. Mother first
argues that the trial court abused its discretion in sua sponte taking the
overnights credit into account. Father, however, specifically brought the
overnights credit to the trial court’s attention, putting the issue squarely before
the court. Mother also notes that she was not actually arguing for a
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modification of child support below, seeking only that the mandatory SSD
credit be retroactively applied to her previously-calculated obligation. However
Mother characterizes her argument in the trial court, she was seeking to have
her weekly child-support payments reduced and have that reduction
retroactively applied; in other words, a request to modify child support.
Finally, Mother argues that the trial court abused its discretion in concluding
that the two continuing errors more-or-less cancelled each other out. Mother,
however, cites no authority for this proposition, and our research has uncovered
none.
[13] To get straight to the point, Mother is asking nothing more or less than for us to
correct the continuing error in Father’s favor while ignoring the continuing
error in her favor. We do not understand how that could be seen as anything
other than a windfall for her, not to mention a detriment to the Children. As
mentioned, the Indiana Supreme Court has emphasized that trial courts may
take a flexible approach to child-support issues, see Johnson, 999 N.E.2d at 62,
and it seems to us that the trial court effectively employed that flexibility here.
While we acknowledge the somewhat unusual circumstances of this case, we
conclude that the trial court’s disposition does not constitute an abuse of
discretion.
[14] The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Kirsch, J., and May, J., concur.
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