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Groenstein v. Groenstein1/19/2005
it of Child, 34 A.L.R. 5th 447, 469-87 (1996)). As noted above, these amounts represent contributions that the worker has made throughout the course of his employment, thus the payment to the child derives from the parent. Miller, at 577. Therefore, these amounts should be regarded as a substitute for support payments from the disabled parent.
[ ] We conclude that this method allows for a just calculation of child support and hold that it is the method district courts should employ when considering dependency benefits in an initial child support calculation. Of course, as always, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 20-2-307(b) allows the district court to deviate from the presumptive child support amount. Should these calculations result in an unjust or inappropriate amount of support under the circumstances, the district court always has the power to adjust the amount through deviation.
[ ] Father's second claim regarding child support is that the court incorrectly calculated Father's income on his investments. As noted in the fact section, the district court used a monthly $4,103 income figure for Father based on a 10% statutory rate applied to the value of his investments. See Wyo. Stat. Ann § 1-16-102. According to the special master's calculations, this figure did not include Father's social security benefit or the benefit paid to the child. Furthermore, it is clear that 10% is not based on any actual return on Father's investments.
[ ] As the district court recognized, Father's income is made up of three components: Father's disability payments, the disability payments made to the child, and income on Father's investments. Although the district court recognized these three components, it appears that none of these actual amounts were used to calculate the $4,103 monthly net income figure attributed to Father. Instead, a 10% statutory rate of interest on Father's investments was used as an estimate of Father's total income. We find this to be an inappropriate method of calculating income in these circumstances. Father's disability benefit and the child's SSDI benefit were easily ascertainable amounts. Indeed, the district court noted these amounts in the divorce decree. Thus, the only portion of Father's income that was not readily ascertainable was his income from investments.
[ ] It appears from the trial transcript that Father submitted investment statements and five years worth of tax returns to prove his income from investments. However, those documents were not designated as part of the record on appeal, and consequently we cannot determine what financial information those documents provided. Additionally, as the district court noted, Father did not file a financial affidavit. Father bears the burden of proving his income. When he fails to file a financial affidavit, he does so at his peril because the trial court enjoys wide latitude in determining income when a parent has not provided the records necessary to make the findings in strict conformity with the statute. See Fountain v. Mitros, 968 P.2d 934, 938 (Wyo. 1998).
[ ] Nevertheless, the district court must still use a reasonable method for determining income. Simply applying the statutory rate of interest for unpaid judgments to Father's investment portfolio to estimate Father's entire income bears no rational relationship to Father's actual income. Given the lack of financial information, the district court is certainly well within its discretion to decide that 10% is the amount that Father is earning and can expect to earn on his investments. However, the interest rate used should be based on some reasonable relationship to Father's actual investment income, not simply the statutory rate of interest. We ca
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