Summary
The Appellate Division, Second Department modified a Family Court order concerning child support obligations for two younger children following the parties' divorce. The court determined that the mother failed to meet her burden of proving constructive emancipation or parental alienation by the father. However, finding that the Support Magistrate improvidently exercised discretion by calculating support based on income exceeding the statutory cap without adequate explanation, the court reduced the monthly obligation from $1,720 to $815.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the mother is entitled to termination or downward modification of child support based on constructive emancipation of the two younger children.
- Whether the Support Magistrate erred in calculating child support based on the parties’ combined income above the statutory cap.
- Whether the mother met her burden of showing that the custodial parent interfered with her access, justifying suspension of support.
Holdings
- The mother failed to meet her burden of proving constructive emancipation; therefore the child‑support obligation was not terminated.
- The Support Magistrate improperly calculated child support using income above the statutory cap; the court modified the order to base support on combined income up to the cap.
- The mother did not meet her burden to show custodial‑parent interference; thus support was not suspended.
Key quotations
“It is fundamental public policy in New York that parents are responsible for their children's support until age 21.” (at 1)
“However, under the doctrine of constructive emancipation, a child of employable age who actively abandons the noncustodial parent by refusing all contact and visitation may forfeit any entitlement to support.” (at 1)
Factual background
The parties were married, had four children, and divorced by judgment on March 17, 2021. The judgment incorporated a custody stipulation granting joint legal custody, with the father having residential custody and the mother having parental access, and a settlement stipulation requiring the father to pay the mother $4,135.47 per month in maintenance, reduced by the mother’s child‑support obligation of $2,135.47. In 2022 the father sought upward modification of the mother’s child‑support obligation; the mother sought termination or downward modification. The Support Magistrate ordered the mother to pay $1,720 per month for the two younger children; the mother objected and the Family Court denied the objections.
Procedural history
The parties divorced in 2021. The Family Court, Suffolk County, ordered the mother to pay $1,720 per month for two younger children. The mother objected; the Family Court denied the objections. The mother appealed.
Remand instructions
The order dated June 6, 2024, is modified to delete the provision denying the mother’s objections to the February 26, 2024 order and to substitute a provision granting those objections to the extent of directing the mother to pay $815 per month in basic child support for the two younger children; the February 26, 2024 order is modified accordingly.