In Re Marriage of Williams

I. INTRODUCTION

In this marital dissolution action, appellant Thomas Michael Williams and respondent Hilary Jane Williams dispute the amount of child support that Thomas should pay for their two children. Both parties are wealthy and unemployed. They originally stipulated that monthly employment income of $20,833 would be attributed to Thomas for the purpose of calculating child support and as a result he would pay monthly child support of $3,411. The stipulation regarding child support was entered as an order of the trial court.

Thomas subsequently moved for modification of the child support order, arguing that Hilary’s changed financial circumstances justified a reduction in his child support obligation. Hilary opposed the motion and sought an increase in child support on the ground that their stipulation regarding Thomas’s earning capacity had failed to include a return on his multimillion-dollar investments.

The trial court ruled that Thomas’s earning capacity should include attribution of a reasonable return on approximately $14 million in investments (including home equity of $6 million in his Pebble Beach estate), in addition to the agreed-upon attribution of…