What counts as payment of child support? In the recent case of
Keefer v. Keefer, the Arizona Court of Appeals addressed that question in the context of SSDI payments. This case shows why you need a hard fighting, straight talking, aggressive
Phoenix Divorce Lawyer helping you navigate what can be confusing terrain.
In this child support case, the lower court had given sole custody to the mother, and ordered the father to pay child support, including 70% of all medical expenses not covered by insurance. But the father had been receiving Social Security Disability Insurance ("SSDI") payments due to a brain injury; after the
divorce, the mother received these payments on behalf of the child. These monthly payments were in excess of the father’s regular monthly child support obligation.
So what happens to that excess? Particularly when unreimbursed medical expenses are incurred? The lower court said that the father gets no credit for the excess. In particular, the trial court held that the excess may not be applied to reduce the father's obligation to reimburse the mother for medical expenses not covered by insurance.
The Court of Appeals reversed. It held that when the amount of SSDI payments exceeds the amount of the monthly child support obligation, the excess may be used to satisfy a parent's proportional share of the current unreimbursed medical expenses, when that parent is the source of the benefit.
To see why, the Court looked first at the definition of child support. A.R.S. § 25-500(9), the term "support" is defined as "the provision of maintenance or subsistence" that includes "uncovered medical costs for the child...."
With that in mind, the Court turned to the Child Support Guidelines. Generally, income earned or received by a child may not be used to satisfy a parent's court-ordered child support obligation. Guideline 26(A). But a child's monthly dependent insurance benefit, which a child may receive when a parent qualifies for federal SSDI benefits, is not treated like ordinary income, according to section 26(B):
B. Benefits such as Social Security Disability or Insurance, received by a custodial parent on behalf of a child, as a result of contributions made by the parent paying child support shall be credited as follows:
1. If the amount of the child's benefit for a given month is equal to or greater than the paying parent's child support obligation, then that parent's obligation is satisfied.
2. Any benefit received by the child for a given month in excess of the child support obligation shall not be treated as an arrearage payment nor as a credit toward future child support payments.
What does that mean? The father gets no credit for anything in excess of his child support obligation: it doesn’t go towards arrearages, and it can’t be treated as an advance on next month’s obligation. Nor can he make the mother pay him back. Why? Because it is the child’s money in the first place.
But the key phrase here is "equal to or greater than the paying parent's child support obligation." The father gets no credit for amounts above his child support obligation, but he does get credit up to and including his child support obligation. And since "support" includes "uncovered medical costs," he is entitled to credit for them. The trial court was reversed; the father did not owe any additional money for the medical expenses, because they were credited against the SSDI payments.