Barry M. Duke v. Patricia Dawn Richards, 215 W. Va. 470

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that disability benefits paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs directly to a child or the child's custodian because of an obligor parent's disability should be credited against the parent's current child support obligation. The court extended principles governing Social Security disability benefits to Veterans Affairs benefits and permitted retroactive credit against arrearages when specified equitable conditions are met. The court reversed and remanded for the family court to determine whether the appellant qualified for credit against past arrearages.

Holdings

1. Disability benefits paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs to a child's household as a result of the obligor parent's disability are properly treated as a substitute for current support payments from the obligor's earnings, and the obligor is entitled to a credit against the current child-support obligation for those payments.
2. A court may award an obligor retroactive credit against child-support arrearages for Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits paid to the child's household when the obligor acted in good faith and promptly sought court approval, no other reasonably available assets could have been used to pay support, and no other circumstances, considered in their totality, make a credit inequitable.
3. Duke was entitled to credit against his current child-support obligation for the Department of Veterans Affairs payments made to Tyler, and the family court erred by denying that credit.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a parent subject to a child-support obligation is entitled to a credit against current support for Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits paid directly to the child or the child's custodian because of the parent's disability.
2. Whether such Department of Veterans Affairs payments may be credited retroactively against child-support arrearages.
3. What standard of review applies to legal and statutory-interpretation questions in an appeal from a family court order adopted by a circuit court.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded