In Re Marriage of Purnel

In a postjudgment proceeding, following an earlier decree of dissolution of the marriage of the parties, the trial court ordered Debrah Purnel (wife), the noncustodial parent of the parties’ three minor children, to make payments of $1,063 per month per child, respectively, for their support. Such order reflected a DissoMaster calculation which showed wife’s “net guideline income before support” to be $9,888 per month.

Wife does not challenge the DissoMaster figure nor how it was calculated. Neither does she challenge the amount of the support order itself. However, she is unwilling to share the fruits of her affluence with her own children. Hence, the appeal. To characterize wife’s attitude, as stated in one of the written filings on her behalf in the trial court, wife “simply does not want to submit to State Jurisdiction in this regard. She is not being obstinate—it is a federally protected right not to have State Courts interfere in allocation of Indian Land Trust monies.” As implied by the foregoing, wife is a Native American and a member of the Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Indians. As such, she is the beneficiary of five lucrative leases of her Indian Trust…