Can There Be Too Much Child Support?

We live in a day when reported (i.e. precedential) decisions are rare and decisions touching upon important philosophical differences are like hen's teeth. But on November 18 the planets aligned to give us Hanrahan v. Bakker, a 2-1 panel decision with Judges Ford Elliott and Dubow in the majority and Jenkins in dissent. The subject; how much child support is "enough" when the combined incomes exceed $15,000,000.

We have seen this before. Branch v. Jackson involved a major league baseball player. In that case there was a large support order and money deposited in an UTMA account for an unspecified "later." This writer was troubled by support paid into trust because that really does transfigure the basic premise of the income shares approach to child support. But the result could be explained when one sees that the average career span of a baseball player in the majors is about 5.5 years. Statistics tell us that the rainy day is coming and that for professional athletes there is rarely a "second act." Meanwhile we know that childhood is 18 years by law.

Hanrahan is different. Both parties are lawyers sharing physical custody of two children. Mother earned approximately $105-180,000. Father's earnings as a specialist in corporate takeovers with an established Wilmington law firm ran a gamut from 1,083,000 in 2010, $4,010,000 in 2009; $2,303,000 in 2011 and $15,592,000 in 2012.

The parties divorced in 2009 after 17 years of marriage. The opinion references but does not describe income or lifestyle during the marriage. The property settlement agreement called for an annual exchange of tax returns and an annual adjustment of support based on net income and Pennsylvania guidelines. It also contained a counsel fee provision should there be a breach of the agreement.

All proceeded smoothly in 2009 which is to say the calculation was done and the support adjusted to $15,878 per month. In 2010 father's income declined sharply but again they followed the guideline formula and support fell to $3700 a month. In 2011 Father's income was $2,303,000 and the support was calculated as $7,851 per month.

2012 was the year the mold broke. With $15,600,000 in income and mother's reported as $105,000 Father wrote to Mother stating that he ran the calculation but that the number was "way beyond" any realistic reasonable needs. He also generously proposed not to reduce the support below $7,851 per month. It should be noted that Father also covered about $6,000 a...