Martin v. Commonwealth of Kentucky Cabinet For Health and Family Services
Trial Court Ordered Father to pay $161.00 per month in child support and $25.00 per month toward an arrearage to his Former Wife. The parties’ settlement agreement provided that “parties shall not pay any amount of child support to either party as agreed upon between the parties…” After entry of the Divorce decree, Mother sought child support from father but did not reference the Divorce Decree in her complaint. On appeal, Father argued that the Trial Court’s decision to order child support “gave no merit to the separation agreement.”
The Court of appeals found that the Trial Court failed to recognize the divorce decree as having established Father’s initial child support obligation at zero under KRS 403.211 and failed to apply KRS 403.213 to determine whether the facts of the case justified modification of the order setting the initial child support obligation.
Digested by: Emily T. Cecconi
