Appeal of child support modification order dismissed.

Byline: Barry Bridges

A former husband's Family Court motion seeking a child support credit for Social Security benefits paid for the benefit of his daughter was actually a motion to modify support whose denial could not be appealed, according to the state Supreme Court.

Pointing out that G.L. 14-1-52(b) requires a party seeking review of a child support modification order to proceed through a petition for writ of certiorari, Justice Francis X. Flaherty wrote for the court in dismissing the appeal of defendant Matthew Evans since it was not properly before the court.

The parties were divorced in 2011. Because Matthew is a disabled veteran, his wife Nadine was receiving $356 in monthly SSDI benefits for the care of their minor child even when the couple was married. In the final judgment of divorce, Matthew agreed to pay $756.80 per month in child support.

In 2017, he filed a motion for a credit, arguing that the order in place did not reflect that the "child support obligations of a noncustodial spouse are to be offset by the Social Security benefits paid to dependent children on behalf of that parent" as enunciated by the state Supreme Court in 1993's Pontbriand v. Pontbriand. However, Family Court Judge John E. McCann III denied the motion since the child support order was initially entered upon the consent of the parties, and Matthew filed a notice of appeal.

Differentiating it from the current case, Flaherty explained that inPontbriandthe court determined an obligor was entitled to a credit for the amount of Social Security benefits being paid for the benefit of the children...

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