A Carluzzo Rochkind & Smith note: Following is an article by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. We did not handle this case, but it brings up important marital points your divorce lawyer should be familiar with. For more than 30 years our divorce lawyers in Manassas have helped clients with such matters in Prince William County, Fairfax County, Woodbridge, and throughout Northern Virginia. If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please contact our law firm at (703) 361-0776.
Domestic Relations: Child’s SSI benefits don’t impact parent’s child support obligation
By Virginia Lawyers Weekly – 5/23/2024
Where a disabled child receives supplemental security income, those benefits are not an “independent financial resource” that may justify a reduction in a parent’s child-support obligation.
Background
Pamela Humphries and Robert Brian Buchanan divorced in 2012. In 2017, upon father’s request, mother moved to Virginia and took sole physical custody of the children. In 2018, mother moved to reinstate child support. At the time, the parties’ daughter, A., was still a minor, and mother provided full-time care to N., who was 18 but required intensive support due to his Down syndrome, autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The JDR court ordered father to pay $1,019 in monthly support for A. and N. The parties later stipulated that the presumptive obligation for the two children was $1,103. Father requested a downward deviation from the guidelines on several grounds, including N.’s receipt of supplemental security income, or SSI, benefits based on his disability. Following a hearing, the circuit court found N.’s SSI benefits to be an “independent financial resource[]” under Code § 20-108.1(B)(9) and reduced father’s monthly support payments by $700, roughly the amount of N.’s SSI benefits.
Upon mother’s motion for reconsideration, the circuit court affirmed its holding that N.’s SSI benefits were an independent financial resource, but credited father for only about half of the SSI amount, for a monthly reduction of $336. Ultimately, the court ordered father to pay $766.50 in monthly support.
Analysis
The sole issue before the en banc court is whether the circuit court erred in finding that a disabled child’s SSI benefits may be an “independent financial resource[]” under Code § 20-108.1(B)(9). The court holds that SSI benefits received by a disabled child are not an “independent financial resource[]” under Code § 20-108.1(B)(9) that may justify a reduction in a parent’s child-support obligation. Rather, SSI benefits are dependent financial resources, contingent on child-support payments received from a payor parent.
A child’s receipt of SSI benefits does not impact a payor parent’s financial resources, and the continued receipt of child-support payments is likely to provide the disabled child with materially better living conditions. Thus, the court does not believe that the General Assembly intended to treat a child’s receipt of SSI benefits as an independent financial resource justifying a reduction in child support. The congressional policy behind SSI further supports the court’s conclusion that SSI benefits are not an independent financial resource.
Reversed and remanded.
Dissenting opinion
Callins, J., dissenting:
Read in the context of Code §§ 20-108.1 and 20-108.2, the term “independent financial resources of the child or children” refers to financial resources available to a child independent of those provided by the parent. In other words, the term refers to income received by and/or for the benefit of the child from a source other than a parent.
Here, the majority strips the language “independent financial resources” of this meaning. Because I interpret the term “independent financial resources” to refer to a financial source other than a parent, I cannot join those of my colleagues who would hold that the trial court is precluded from considering SSI payments for an adult disabled child as a basis for deviation from the presumptive child support guideline amount. Thus, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Humphries v. Buchanan, Record No. 0877-22-2, May 7, 2024. CAV (en banc) (Ortiz; Callins, dissenting). From the Circuit Court of Chesterfield County (Robbins). Robert W. Loftin (J. Tracy Walker IV; Juliet B. Clark; Carson R. Bartlett; McGuireWoods LLP, on brief), for appellant. No brief or argument for appellees. VLW 024-7-141. 36 pp.
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