Dupree v. Dupree

The trial court erred in ordering the husband to maintain the minor child's health insurance, without including that expense in calculating his child support obligation.

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Pursuant to this Court’s pilot project for domestic relations cases, we granted appellant Samuel Dupree’s application for discretionary appeal of the final decree of divorce from appellee Cynthia Dupree. Samuel contends, among other things, that the trial court’s judgment is contradictory as to how much each party must pay for uninsured health care expenses for their minor child and that the trial court erred in failing to consider the amount he will pay for health insurance when calculating his child support obligation. We agree with these two contentions, but find Samuel’s other arguments to be without merit. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part and remand the case for proceedings consistent with this opinion. 1. Samuel and Cynthia were married in 1998. They have one minor child. In 2006, Samuel filed for divorce, seeking joint custody of the child, reasonable visitation, and an equitable division of the parties’ marital property. Cynthia filed an answer and counterclaim, seeking permanent custody, child support, alimony, attorney fees, and an equitable division of marital property.

The trial court conducted a bench trial, and its final judgment of divorce awarded the parties joint legal custody of their child, with Cynthia having primary physical custody. The court found that Samuel earned $3,262.67 per month, while Cynthia earned $2,484.75 per month. Pursuant to OCGA § 19-6-15 b 5, the trial court determined that Samuel’s pro rata share of the basic child support obligation was 57 and Cynthia’s was 43. The court ordered Samuel to pay $549.43 per month in child support. The court also ordered the parties to equally share child care costs and ordered Samuel to maintain health insurance for the child. Although the final decree required Cynthia to pay 61 of uninsured health care expenses for the child and Samuel to pay 39, the child support addendum that was incorporated into the decree provided that the parties would equally split the same expenses.

Dupree v. Dupree

The trial court erred in ordering the husband to maintain the minor child's health insurance, without including that expense in calculating his child support obligation.

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