Donna P. Lawrence v. Darren D. Webber

Summary

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine reviewed the calculation of child support for three children with differing residential-care arrangements. The court held that the magistrate improperly used household child counts rather than the total number of children when calculating the basic support entitlement, while requiring separate calculations for the children receiving substantially equal care and the daughter in the mother's primary care. The judgment was vacated and remanded for recalculation.

Holdings

1. The court must use the total number of children for whom support is being determined when calculating the basic support entitlement, unless the specific statutory exception for the residential configuration described in section 2006(5)(E) applies.
2. When parents provide substantially equal care for some children but not others, the court must apply the section 2006(5)(D-1) calculation to the children receiving substantially equal care and calculate support for the other children separately.
3. A challenge asserting that the court misapplied the Child Support Guidelines is properly presented on appeal; a request for deviation under section 2007(3)(A) is not the exclusive remedy when the party claims that the statutory calculation itself was erroneous.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Child Support Guidelines required the court to use the total number of children for whom support was being determined when calculating the basic support entitlement.
2. Whether the statutory alternate calculation for substantially equal care applied to the parties' two sons even though their daughter was primarily in Lawrence's care.
3. Whether Webber's challenge to the calculation was properly raised on appeal rather than through a request for deviation from the support guidelines.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded