IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
)
In the Matter of the Marriage of ) No. 75466-1-1
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DANA LYNN GORDON, ) DIVISION ONE -71 77
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Appellant, ) =I* rrl LT,
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and ) CJ1 or:).—
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ROBERT EARL GORDON, ) UNPUBLISHED
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Respondent. ) FILED: November 13, 2017
)
COX, J. — Dana Gordon appeals from the trial court's order denying in
part her petition to modify several provisions of a child support order. But the
record fails to support Gordon's claim that the trial court based its child support
calculation on erroneous or incomplete financial information. Nor has Gordon
demonstrated that substantially changed circumstances warranted modification
of the parties' prior agreement for funding postsecondary educational expenses
and other miscellaneous expenses. We affirm.
Appellant Dana Gordon and respondent Robert Gordon were married in
1997 and dissolved their marriage in 2012. At the time of the dissolution, the
couple's three children were 15, 13, and 11. Under the terms of an agreed
property settlement, Dana' received assets worth more than $4 million, including
two houses and a brokerage account worth about $700,000.
To avoid confusion, we refer to the parties by their first names.
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The parties also entered into an agreed final child support order. Among
other things, the order specified that the parents had funded separate accounts
to pay college expenses for each of the three children. If the accounts became
insufficient, the parties agreed that Robert would pay 54 percent and Dana 46
percent of any additional postsecondary educational expenses, up to the yearly
cost "at a state-supported institution in the State of Washington." The parties had
also funded trust accounts for all three children to cover car expenses when they
became old enough to drive. The parties' oldest son began attending Gonzaga
University in 2015.
On February 26, 2016, Dana petitioned for modification of the agreed
2012 child support order, asking the court to modify Robert's child support
obligation and to modify the postsecondary education provision.
Following a hearing on June 24, 2016, at which both parties were
represented by counsel, the trial court entered a final order of child support. The
court set Robert's gross monthly income at $21,250, approximately the same
amount that he was earning in 2012. The court set Dana's gross monthly income
at $8,186, a decrease over 2012 as a result of a decrease in her monthly
maintenance.
The court modified the monthly child support obligations based in part on
the decrease in Dana's monthly income, and set Robert's transfer payment at
$1,373.16 per month, the standard calculation, for the two children who had not
yet turned 18. The court declined to modify the parties' postsecondary education
agreement, finding "no substantial change of circumstances." But the court •
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clarified the provision to specify that the cap on college expenses for a state
institution would be the costs of attending the University of Washington. The
court also found that both parties had "substantial financial resources" to pay any
college expenses not covered by the college accounts.
On appeal, Dana contends the trial court erred by relying on inaccurate
income calculations and by refusing to modify the parties' 2012 postsecondary
education agreement.
At the outset, we note that most of the factual allegations and legal
arguments in Dana's appellate brief are unsupported by any meaningful
reference to the record or relevant authority, in violation of the Rules of Appellate
Procedure (RAP). Dana's Statement of the Case and other supporting factual
allegations consist primarily of conclusory recitations of her own thoughts and
intentions, argumentative allegations of Robert's wrongdoing, and inadmissible
hearsay.
For example, RAP 10.3(a)(5) requires that the statement of the case be
"[a] fair statement of the facts and procedure relevant to the issues presented for
review, without argument. Reference to the record must be included for each
factual statement."2 Legal argument in the brief must include "citations to legal
authority and references to relevant parts of the record."3
Dana's violations of the appellate rules are not mere technicalities. An
appellate court will not search through the record for evidence relevant to a
2 RAP 10.3(a)(5)(emphasis added).
3 RAP 10.3(a)(6).
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litigant's arguments.4 Moreover, this court may decline to consider issues
unsupported by legal argument and citation to relevant authority.5 Although we
recognize that Dana is pro se on appeal, we hold self-represented litigants to the
same standard as an attorney.6
Standard of Review
The trial court has authority to modify a child support order under various
conditions, including a substantial change of circumstances, the passage of more
than one year, and a showing that the original support order "in practice works a
severe economic hardship on either party or the child."' We review the trial
court's decision on a petition for child support modification for an abuse of
discretion.° Consequently, to prevail on appeal, Dana must demonstrate that the
trial court's decision was manifestly unreasonable or was based on untenable
grounds or untenable reasons.° We will not disturb findings of fact supported by
substantial evidence.'°
Generally, we do not consider issues raised for the first time on appeal
unless the claimed error is a manifest error affecting a constitutional right."'
4See Mills v. Park, 67 Wn.2d 717, 721,409 P.2d 646 (1966).
5 See Saunders v. Lloyd's of London, 113 Wn.2d 330, 345, 779 P.2d 249(1989).
6 See In re Pers. Restraint of Rhem, 188 Wn.2d 321, 328, 394 P.3d 367(2017).
7 RCW 26.09.170(1),(5), (6)(a).
8 In re Marriage of Griffin, 114 Wn.2d 772, 776, 791 P.2d 519(1990).
9 In re Marriage of Littlefield, 133 Wn.2d 39, 46-47, 940 P.2d 1362(1997).
10 In re Marriage of Lutz, 74 Wn. App. 356, 370, 873 P.2d 566(1994).
11 Vernon v. Aacres Al!vest, LLC, 183 Wn. App. 422, 427, 333 P.3d 534 (2014);
RAP 2.5(a)(3).
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Incomplete Evidence
Dana contends the trial court erred in conducting the modification hearing
without having all of the evidence before it. She contends the court failed to
consider 14 exhibits that were "missing" from the court's copy of Robert's trial
notebook. She claims the "missing" exhibits caused the court to underestimate
Robert's income. This contention is frivolous.
The verbatim report shows that at the beginning of the hearing, the trial
court informed counsel that it was missing 14 exhibits from its copy of the trial
notebook. Robert's counsel explained that he had intended to use the exhibits
during the hearing. Rather than continuing the hearing, the parties and court
agreed that counsel could simply hand up counsel's copies of the exhibits as
necessary during argument. The hearing then proceeded. Dana fails to
demonstrate that any exhibits were "missing," that she was unable to present all
of her evidence to the court, or that the court failed to consider all available
evidence.
Parents'Income
Dana argues that the trial court erred in overestimating her income and
underestimating Robert's income. These claims are meritless.
Dana asserts that her gross income should be calculated at either $3,750
per month, or $5,050 per month. She provides no meaningful citation to the
record to support these calculations. At the modification hearing, Dana's counsel
asserted that her monthly gross income "should be roughly [$6,508]."
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Moreover, in support of her modification petition, Dana submitted a
financial declaration calculating her monthly gross income to be $10,197. She
now alleges that she was somehow misled by her counsel and that she "did not
know she could amend or update her financial declaration." These allegations
are not part of the record and therefore do not demonstrate any error in the trial
court's calculation of the parties' income.12
The trial court calculated Dana's gross monthly income as $8,186, based
on her $5,000 monthly maintenance and the monthly income of $1,666 from her
Palm Springs rental home and $1,520 in dividends that Dana reported in her
financial declaration. The court declined to impute additional income to Dana.
Substantial evidence supports the court's calculation.
Dana also acknowledges that the trial court accepted her calculation of
Robert's gross monthly income as $21,250. On appeal, she does not allege,
much less demonstrate, that the evidence before the trial court failed to support
this calculation.
Rather, Dana now alleges, among other things, that Robert concealed
vast amounts of income from the court. Nothing in the record supports her
claims.
Dana also contends that the trial court should have (1) imputed monthly
income to Robert in excess of $21,250 "based on his extravagant and selfish
lifestyle"; (2)found Robert voluntarily underemployed;(3) deviated upward from
12 See State v. McFarland, 127 Wn.2d 322, 338, 899 P.2d 1251 (1995)(appellate
court will not consider matters outside the record).
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the standard child support calculation; and (4)found all three children dependent
and ordered Robert to pay an addition $2,000 monthly in child support until the
children turn 23. Because all of these issues are raised for the first time on
appeal, we decline to address them.
Postsecondaty Educational Expenses
Dana contends that the trial court erred in denying her petition to modify
the parties' agreement on funding postsecondary educational expenses. She
contends the college accounts created at the time of the dissolution are
insufficient to fund the costs of in-state private colleges or out-of-state colleges.
She claims the court should have eliminated the cap on college expenses in the
parties' agreement and ordered Robert "to fully fund college for all the boys."
The trial court has broad discretion to order support for postsecondary
education.13 When exercising its discretion to award postsecondary educational
support, the trial court considers a variety of factors, including:
Age of the child; the child's needs; the expectations of the parties
for their children when the parents were together; the child's
prospects, desires, aptitudes, abilities or disabilities; the nature of
the postsecondary education sought; and the parents' level of
education, standard of living, and current and future resources.
Also to be considered are the amount and type of support that the
child would have been afforded if the parents had stayed
together.041
On appeal, Dana argues that the trial court failed to consider these
factors, and provides a lengthy account of the children's activities and academic
skills, the parents' education opportunities, and the parents' pre-dissolution
13 In re Marriage of Sprute, 186 Wn. App. 342, 354, 344 P.3d 730(2015).
14 RCW 26.19.090(2); Marriage of Sprute, 186 Wn. App. at 354-55.
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intentions for their children's education. But Dana does not identify any evidence
in the record that supports these allegations or indicates how she presented this
issue to the trial court.
Dana also alleges that if she pays the remaining college expenses of the
oldest son "by herself, it will affect her ability to take care"15 of the remaining two -
children. Once again, Dana identifies no support in the record for this claim. The
trial court's finding that "both parties have substantial financial resources" to pay
college expenses not covered by the existing accounts is essentially
unchallenged on appeal.
Moreover, Dana's arguments ignore the fact that the trial court here was
not asked to consider an initial award of postsecondary support. Rather, Dana
petitioned the court to modify an already existing agreement on postsecondary
education expenses.
During its oral decision, the court observed that "[t]tle mother has not
argued to this Court what change in circumstances has occurred that I should be
modifying this provision."16 On appeal, Dana has not presented any coherent
argument challenging the court's observation.17 The trial court did not err or
abuse its discretion in denying the petition to modify the parties' 2012 agreement
on postsecondary education expenses.
15 See Marriage of Sprute, 186 Wn. App. at 355 (trial court abuses its discretion if it
awards postsecondary support that would force a parent into bankruptcy or prevent a .
parent from meeting obligation to minor child).
16 Report of Proceedings (June 24, 2016) at 29.
17 See In re Marriage of Moore, 49 Wn. App. 863, 865, 746 P.2d 844(1987)(A
substantial change of circumstances must be something that was not contemplated at
the time that the last child support order was entered.).
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Extracurricular Expenses
Dana contends that there are extracurricular expenses "that need to be
divided between the parents according to proportionate income" and that there
needs to be "an allowance [for the children]for cars, computer, insurance, car
maintenance etc. and spending money." Dana's conclusory allegations fail to
identify the precise nature of the alleged error.
Dana's arguments appear to be directed primarily to a dispute over the
funding of the children's cars. In her petition for modification, Dana asked the
court to order Robert to pay a proportionate share of the "cost of a reasonable
car" for each of the three children. Dana proposed that the reasonable cost of a
car would be $25,000 to $35,000.
The trial court denied the request, noting the parties' existing 2012
agreement that car-related expenses, including "vehicle acquisition costs" and
maintenance, would be paid from each child's trust fund. On appeal, Dana
acknowledges that she purchased cars for each of the three children at a total
cost of about $75,000, without using funds from any of the trust accounts. Under
the circumstances, Dana has failed to demonstrate any error in the trial court's
refusal to modify the parties' agreement regarding vehicle purchase and
maintenance.
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We affirm the order denying in part the petition to modify the child support
order.
WE CONCUR:
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