In Re Marriage of Hubner

Summary

This appeal—the third in this marital dissolution action—involves a dispute over the appropriate amount of child support due a child of a wealthy parent. Consistent with the principle that child support must be measured by the standard of living attainable by the parent’s income, we conclude the trial court must be presented with sufficient information on which to properly assess the child’s needs. Such information includes the amount of the supporting parent’s actual income where that amount is disputed. The action is remanded to enable the court to obtain reliable information as to the supporting parent’s income, and to make a guideline child support calculation based thereon.

Both parties also contend the trial court erred in setting child support at $19,000 per month. The mother contends the amount is too low in light of the father’s extraordinarily high income, while the father insists it is too high and exceeds the child’s needs. In light of flaws in the trial court’s methodology for calculating child support, we conclude this portion of the appeal is not yet ripe for review and must be dismissed.

Finally, we conclude the trial court erred in suspending…