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HomeMy WebLinkAbout440 S 1996 ANGELA M. MYERS, : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PLAINTIFF : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA : V. : : : JEFFREY A. GRDJAN, : DEFENDANT : 440 SUPPORT 1996 IN RE: EXCEPTIONS OF DEFENDANT TO SUPPORT MASTER’S REPORT BEFORE BAYLEY, J. OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT Bayley, J., June 18, 2007:-- April 12, 2007 On , following a hearing before the Cumberland County Support Master, an interim order of child support in the amount of $292 per month was entered on the petition of Angela M. Myers, age 35, against Jeffrey A. Grdjan, age 35, for the support of their son, Nathan Grdjan, age 12, born April 14, 1995. The father filed Goodman v. exceptions to the Support Master’s Report. The report is advisory only. Goodman, 375 Pa. Super. 504 (1988). While it is to be given the fullest consideration, especially with regard to the credibility of witnesses, the court is required to make a Id. review to determine if the recommendations are appropriate. The father maintains that the Master erred by determining mother’s income based on her actual earnings and not on what he claims is her higher earning capacity. The mother has worked almost five years as a school bus driver. That involves 180 days of work per year which earns her $8,016. She collects another $1,300 a year in unemployment compensation when she is laid off during summers and Christmas breaks. For a year and three months, the mother supplemented that income working as a pet-sitter for Pampered Pets which produced income of approximately $4,058 a year. 440 SUPPORT 1996 The mother stopped working for Pampered Pets in early 2006 when she enrolled part- time as a student at the Harrisburg Area Community College where she is currently taking two courses toward an associate degree. The Master properly imputed her earning capacity to include what she would have earned the entire year if she had Kersey v. Jefferson continued to work for Pampered Pets. See , 791 A.2d 419 (2002). The Master set the mother’s monthly net income at $1,186.71, and the father’s monthly net income at $1,961.37. The mother, who is single, lives with Nathan, whom she shares custody of with 1 the father, and another son, age sixteen, by another relationship. When she and the father separated, she was working in a clerical position earning $12.75 per hour. Less than a year after the separation, when her sons were eleven and seven, she had childcare problems which resulted in her switching to her current job as a school bus driver. She did not seek child support from the father until the entry of the current 2 order. The Support Master rejected the father’s argument, which he has reasserted in these exceptions, that the mother should be imputed with an earning capacity of $12.75 per hour based on her employment in a clerical/secretarial capacity more than four years ago. He noted that: There was no evidence presented, however, that the Plaintiff continues to have the job skills necessary to perform similar employment, nor was there evidence of the availability of similar employment. Usually employment as suggested by the Defendant would necessitate childcare The week on week off shared custody arrangement started in February, 2007. 1 Before that, Nathan was with his mother for the majority of the time. The case carries a 1996 docket number for an earlier time when the parents 2 were separated. The order was suspended when they reconciled and lived together before their final separation about six years ago. -2- 440 SUPPORT 1996 expenses which the Plaintiff does not incur in her present line of work. Based upon the evidence presented a support order will be recommended in accordance with Plaintiff’s demonstrated income over the past year. Pa. Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-2(d)(4) provides: Earning Capacity. Ordinarily, either party to a support action who willfully fails to obtain appropriate employment will be considered to have an income equal to the party's earning capacity. Age, education, training, health, work experience, earnings history and child care responsibilities are factors which shall be considered in determining earning capacity. When the mother changed her full-time job to a school bus driver more than four years ago she clearly did not do it to reduce her income so that the father would be required to pay more child support. She did not seek child support until this complaint January 29, 2007 was filed on . When she became a school bus driver she did so in order to give her more time with her two young sons and solve her babysitting problems. That was a legitimate necessary decision given her situation, and it has served her children well. It justifies the income figures used by the Master in setting this Grimes v. Grimes support order. See , 408 Pa. 158 (Pa. Super. 1991). For the foregoing reasons, the following order is entered. ORDER OF COURT IT IS ORDERED: AND NOW, this day of June, 2007, ARE (1) The exceptions of defendant to the Support Master’s Report, DISMISSED. IS MADE A FINAL ORDER. (2) The interim order of April 12, 2007, By the Court, Edgar B. Bayley, J. -3- 440 SUPPORT 1996 Angela M. Myers, Pro se 724 North Front Street, First Floor Wormleysburg, PA 17043 Dan Regan, Esquire 1300 Market Street, Suite 1 Lemoyne, PA 17043 For Defendant Michael Rundle, Esquire Support Master :sal -4- ANGELA M. MYERS, : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PLAINTIFF : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA : V. : : : JEFFREY A. GRDJAN, : DEFENDANT : 440 SUPPORT 1996 IN RE: EXCEPTIONS OF DEFENDANT TO SUPPORT MASTER’S REPORT BEFORE BAYLEY, J. ORDER OF COURT IT IS ORDERED: AND NOW, this day of June, 2007, ARE (1) The exceptions of defendant to the Support Master’s Report, DISMISSED. IS MADE A FINAL ORDER. (2) The interim order of April 12, 2007, By the Court, Edgar B. Bayley, J. Angela M. Myers, Pro se 724 North Front Street, First Floor Wormleysburg, PA 17043 Dan Regan, Esquire 1300 Market Street, Suite 1 Lemoyne, PA 17043 For Defendant Michael Rundle, Esquire Support Master :sal