Marriage of V.W. and T.W. CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

A. Backdrop to the Issues Presented in This Appeal This long-running marital dissolution proceeding began in 2012 with the filing of a divorce petition by V.F. against her then husband, T.W. T.W.

1 and V.F. have a son, S.W., who was eight years old when the case was filed and is now in high school. Following entry of a status judgment declaring the marriage dissolved in 2013, T.W. and V.F. had various disputes over the custody of S.W., the approach they would take to S.W.’s education, and a variety of other things. In March 2014, the court ordered T.W., as the noncustodial parent, to make monthly child support payments at a calculated “guideline” level, plus additional so-called “add on” payments for S.W.’s educational or special needs. (Fam. Code,1 § 4062; see In re Marriage of Lusby (1998) 64 Cal.App.4th 459, 471.) One of the most hotly disputed issues in the case had to do with whether S.W. should be homeschooled, which was V.F.’s preference, or should go to a public school, which was T.W.’s preference. After a contested evidentiary hearing, the court ruled in August 2019 that S.W. should be sent to public school, where T.W. informs us he is now thriving. T.W.…