Marr. of Daugherty

I. BACKGROUND

David and Melinda’s two children lived with Melinda, and David paid child support. The Napa County Department of Child Support Services filed a motion to modify David’s child support obligation. (Fam. Code,2 § 17400 et seq.)

1 Because Melinda Daugherty and David Daugherty share a last name, we shall refer to them by their first names. We intend no disrespect by this designation. 2 All undesignated statutory references are to the Family Code.

1 After a hearing, the court found that David’s income, for purposes of calculating child support, was the monthly Social Security disability payment he received. The court then ordered him to pay a portion of that to Melinda as child support. The court also found Melinda received $796 per month in derivative Social Security disability benefits as the representative payee of the children based on David’s disability. (42 U.S.C. § 402(d).) Melinda argued these benefits should be treated as part of David’s income when calculating his monthly income for purposes of his support obligation. The court disagreed with Melinda’s position and concluded the derivative benefits were the income of the children, not of David. Under the…