County of Orange v. Smith

The father of a child was engaged in the business of cabinet installation. Prior to his separation from his wife, he rented a home with sufficient space to house his business operation. After the separation, he continued to live in that rental home and to operate his business therefrom. He also took in a roommate, who paid $600 per month in rent. The father collected the rent from the roommate and applied it towards the total $1600 rental bill. He construed $600 as his own personal rent and allocated $400 to his business operation. When the court determined the amount of child support the father would have to pay, it took the $600 monthly payments from the roommate into consideration. The father contends that the court erred in doing so. We disagree and affirm the child support order. The $600 monthly payments may be construed as either sublease income or a special circumstance to be considered when evaluating the cash flow available to provide for the child.

In addition to challenging the child support order, the father expresses deep concern over the manner in which the court system handles child custody matters and, specifically, how it allocates child custody time as…