In Re Marriage of Schlafly

Appellant Roger Schlafly, former husband of respondent Julie Schlafly, appeals from an order modifying child support. Roger claims that the court erred in imposing a child support payment that deviated from the guideline amount and in retroactively modifying child support without using actual income figures. Roger also claims the court erred in imposing an attorney’s fees order contradicting an earlier order by the court. We conclude that the court erred in imputing $3,000 of nontaxable income per month based on Roger’s mortgage-free housing. We therefore reverse the December 20, 2005 child support order and remand the action for further proceedings. We affirm the attorney’s fees order.

I. Background

Roger and Julie married in December 1996 and have two minor children, Millicent (bom in 1997) and Geneva (bom in 1999). Millicent was bom three weeks after Julie graduated from law school, about six months into the marriage, and Julie remained at home throughout the marriage to care for the children. Roger, a mathematician, is self-employed and is an independent contractor in the computer software industry. In addition to other assets, Roger owns a minority interest in a…