In Re Marriage of Drake

Summary

After the custodial mother died, her successors in interest, the trustees of a trust she created for the couple's disabled adult son, continued her petition to increase child support from the father, who had about $15,000 in monthly gross income. The court held the Family Code guideline formula applies to adult children. It upheld treating the trust's income as if the trust were the second parent in the formula, charging the son's $474 monthly Social Security disability benefits to the custodial side instead of giving the father a direct credit, and ordering retroactive support. The court also affirmed the security order, attorney fees and sanctions, and affirmed all orders.

What it means for the financial analysis

In an adult disabled child support case, the income analysis may need to model the child's trust income, benefits and the trust's expenses as part of the formula, and the court left that treatment to trial court discretion. The court did not hold that trust income must be handled this way in every case, so the analysis should rest on the trust's terms and the facts of how the child is actually cared for.

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