In re Marriage of Siva stands for the proposition that if a parent pays child support during a time that the parent has full custody of the children, that parent can receive a refund for over payments retroactive to the time that the child started living with that parent.
In this case the parties had a minor child. A judgment of divorce gave the father a 28 percent timeshare and ordered him to pay child support. Four months later, the daughter moved in with her father full-time even though he continued to pay child support.
Ten months after his daughter moved in with him, the father filed a request for order to modify child support to reflect the current timeshare. In addition, he requested Jackson credits so that he could be reimbursed retroactive to the time the daughter moved in with him–before the request for order was filed. The family law judge reimbursed the father for his overpayment of child support retroactive to the date that the daughter started living with him full-time. The wife appealed.
The First Appellate court upheld the order even though this was not a true Jackson credit. In Jackson, the minor child went to live with the father full-time. He stopped paying child support. Later, the mother filed a motion to enforce child support, and the court in that case said that once the father began taking care of the child full-time, he was no longer responsible for support. In this case, the father paid child support even though his daughter lived with him full-time. He later requested a retroactive reimbursement of child support. The trial court ordered reimbursement and the appellate court held that the Jackson credit is still available in this situation and that courts will now have the discretion to decide whether in the case before them it is appropriate to apply Jackson credits.
If you need legal advice and are looking for a family law lawyer in Orange County to address a issue such as modification of child support or any other divorce matter such as legal separation, annulment, custody, spousal support, and/or property division, please consider Treviño Law in your divorce attorney search. We are located in Laguna Hills right off Lake Forest exit to both the 405 and 5 freeway.
Although the posting of this information can be considered free legal advice for a divorce in Orange County, it does not address other factors which may play a significant role in a particular dissolution. Circumstances in your divorce may alter the results in your dissolution.
Please note that this legal advice does not establish a family law attorney-client relationship. This is a legal advertisement for Treviño Law, Inc.
