Barth

If ever there was a case where the adage “be careful what you wish for” 1 applied, this is surely it. Appellant Jeffrey Barth spent years resisting Andrea Barth’s 2 attempt to litigate their divorce and child custody issues in Ohio, going as far as appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court. That court agreed with Jeffrey and concluded the Ohio courts lacked jurisdiction because Andrea had not lived in Ohio for six months immediately prior to filing her divorce action. (Barth v. Barth (2007) 113 Ohio St. 3d 27 [ 2007 Ohio 973 , 862 N.E.2d 496 , 498].) Jeffrey finally achieved what he wanted— the case was back in California. Ultimately, the trial court, pursuant to Family Code section 4009, 3 granted Andrea’s request for child support retroactive to the date Jeffrey had originally filed his California divorce action, with credit given for the amounts Jeffrey paid under the now void Ohio order. The support Jeffrey was ordered to pay was significantly higher than the amount the Ohio trial court had ordered.

Jeffrey offers a number of arguments to support his claim that the trial court abused its discretion by awarding retroactive child support. He claims the court erroneously…