## Facts

- Charles B. Harvey, Jr. and Cheryl A. Robinson divorced in 1988; their two minor daughters lived primarily with Robinson.
- The divorce judgment ordered Harvey to pay $345 bi-weekly in child support, based on his then full-time employment and additional earnings.
- By 1991, Harvey’s total annual income was about $35,500, largely from full-time civilian National Guard employment plus weekend Guard service and other work.
- In 1992, after completing 20 years with the National Guard, Harvey voluntarily retired from his full-time job to attend college with plans to pursue medical school, anticipating possible involuntary retirement.
- As a full-time student, Harvey’s gross income fell to about $13,840 from part-time work and educational grants.
- After leaving his job, Harvey stopped paying child support, briefly curing an arrearage by cashing in a retirement pension, then stopped paying again; by the modification hearing he was about $3,800 in arrears.
- Robinson testified that nonpayment caused material hardship for the children, including inability to buy winter clothing and discontinuation of extracurricular activities.
- The trial court found Harvey acted in good faith and reduced support by applying the guidelines to his current, reduced student income; the Superior Court affirmed.

## Issues

1. In a child support modification, may a court calculate support based solely on an obligor’s actual reduced income when the reduction results from a voluntary decision to attend school, or must it consider and attribute income based on full-time earning capacity under the child support guidelines?
2. Under the child support guidelines, when is attribution of income required for voluntary unemployment or underemployment despite a good-faith career or educational change?

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine vacated the Superior Court’s judgment affirming the modified support order.
- The court held the trial court erred by basing the support calculation on Harvey’s reduced student income rather than an amount reflecting his current full-time earning capacity.
- The case was remanded for recalculation of child support consistent with earning capacity and attribution-of-income requirements.

## Legal Principles

- Child support guidelines require consideration of an obligor’s earning capacity, not merely self-imposed reduced earnings, when voluntary unemployment or underemployment diminishes resources available for support.
- A good-faith decision to change employment or pursue education does not, by itself, justify reducing child support to a level based solely on the parent’s reduced actual income.
- Courts must attribute income consistent with what the obligor can earn full-time when voluntary employment choices substantially lower available support and conflict with the guidelines’ purpose of ensuring adequate support for children.

## Conclusion

The court required child support in a modification proceeding to be recalculated using an income figure reflecting the obligor’s full-time earning capacity, holding that voluntary schooling and good faith do not eliminate the duty to support children based on the ability to earn.


Harvey v. Robinson, 665 A.2d 215 (Me. 1995)