Appellant Thomas R. Galvin filed in this Court an application for discretionary review of a trial court order granting him a downward modification of his child support obligation and an increased amount of visitation with the parties’ child. We granted the application pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-35 j because appellant father had a statutory right to appeal directly an order entered in a child support modification action filed after January 1, 2008. OCGA § § 5-6-34 a 11. Appellant and appellee Wendy L. Galvin were married in 2002 and were divorced in May 2007 by a final judgment and decree that awarded them joint legal custody of their 30-month-old child, gave appellee mother primary physical custody of the child and decision-making authority, and required appellant father to pay monthly child support of $971.68. In February 2008, father sought downward modification of the child support award on the grounds that he was no longer employed and was receiving unemployment benefits and that mother’s income had increased. Father amended his petition in November 2008 to seek modification of the divorce judgment’s child-custody award. In December 2009, the trial court determined there was a material change in financial circumstances that warranted a downward modification of the child support award to $692, finding that mother’s monthly income had increased to $2500 and imputing to father monthly income of $2500 based on father’s training and experience as a paralegal and the trial court’s finding that father had failed to show efforts to obtain employment and was choosing not to work.1 The trial court found no material change in circumstances to warrant a change in the custodial arrangement, but granted a modification of visitation and parenting time after finding that a parenting plan submitted by appellee mother was in the best interests of the child.
1. Citing OCGA § 19-6-15j, father contends the trial court erred when it did not make the reduction in father’s monthly child support obligation retroactive to February 2008, the month in which father filed the petition for modification. The statute provides: “1 In the event a parent suffers an involuntary termination of employment, . . . then the portion of child support attributable to lost income shall not accrue from the date of the service of the petition for modification, provided that service is made on the other parent.” Emphasis added.
