In re Marriage of Hall & Frencher

Summary

The father was ordered to pay $8.50 a month in child support. Social Security was paying the mother $960 a month in derivative benefits for the child, and the family court left $11,083.84 in arrears because it would not apply the excess to arrears that predated the benefits (2007 to July 2011). The Court of Appeal held that the amended Family Code section 4504(b) requires credit to current support, then arrears principal, then accrued interest, and it declined to follow Robinson, which rested on the older statutory wording. The arrears figure was reversed and remanded for recalculation, and the rest of the judgment was affirmed.

What it means for the financial analysis

An arrears schedule has to be built month by month, with the benefit received, the current obligation, the excess applied to principal, and only then interest. The court did not compute the new number, so the remand schedule will turn on the dates the benefits covered and what the parties actually received. That includes the $20,824 lump sum for July 2012 to April 2014, half of which the mother passed to the father. A schedule that ignores the statutory order of credit, or treats pre-benefit arrears as untouchable, will not hold up.

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