ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE
Mark Small Richard A. Clem
Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana
ATTORNEYS FOR AMICUS CURIAE
STATE OF INDIANA
Steve Carter
Attorney General of Indiana
Thomas M. Fisher
Solicitor General of Indiana
Frances Barrow
Julie A. Hoffman
Deputy Attorneys General
Indianapolis, Indiana
In the
Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________
No. 32S01-0604-CV-136
IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF,
JEFFREY LAMBERT,
Appellant (Petitioner below),
v.
JILL LAMBERT,
Appellee (Respondent below).
_________________________________
Appeal from the Hendricks Superior Court, No. 32D01-0207-DR-104
The Honorable Robert W. Freese, Judge
_________________________________
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 32A01-0412-CV-535
_________________________________
February 22, 2007
Shepard, Chief Justice.
When appellant Jeffrey Lambert and his former wife were about to be divorced, it was
already apparent that Lambert was soon headed for prison. The trial court issued a child support
order based on Lambert’s wages from his existing private employment. It was appropriate to
base support after release on that rate of income, and thus place the burden on Lambert to
establish after his release, through petition to modify, that his income might be lower than it had
been before his conviction. While our Child Support Guidelines obligate every parent to provide
some support even when they have no apparent present income, it was error to set support based
on employment income that plainly would not be there during incarceration.
Facts and Procedural History
Jeffrey Lambert and Jill Lambert married in October 1995. Seven years later, two of Jill
Lambert’s nieces accused Jeffrey of molesting them. The couple subsequently separated and
filed for divorce.
As part of a provisional agreement, Jeffrey agreed to pay $277 per week to support the
couple’s two children. Apparently, this figure was based on Jeffrey’s bi-weekly income at the
time, about $3,100, derived from rental properties and his work as a computer consultant. After
the provisional order took effect, but before the final hearing on the dissolution, Jeffrey was
convicted of two counts of “improper and inappropriate physical contact with [Jill’s] minor
nieces” and sentenced to a period of incarceration. (Appellant’s App. at 17; Tr. at 18.) Jeffrey
was in jail at the time of the final hearing and, therefore, earning virtually nothing. Still, the
Final Decree ordered that he continue to pay the $277 per week in support. The court concluded
that because Jeffrey’s “incarceration [was] due entirely to his own voluntary actions” it was
proper “to impute income to [him] consistent with the original child support calculation.”
(Appellant’s App. at 18.)
Jeffrey appealed, arguing that the court erred in imputing to him pre-incarceration income
in calculating the child support payment. A divided panel of the Court of Appeals rejected this
argument and affirmed. Lambert v. Lambert, 839 N.E.2d 708, 717 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005), vacated.
2
The majority concluded that criminal activity constituted voluntary unemployment or
underemployment under Ind. Child Support Guideline 3(A)(3), and justified the calculation of
the child support payment based on Jeffrey’s potential, or pre-incarceration, income. Id. at 712-
15.
We granted transfer, vacating the decision of the Court of Appeals. 1 Guided by the
lodestar of support issues – the best interests of the child – and following examination of the
various approaches to this issue, we hold that incarceration does not relieve parents of their child
support obligations. On the other hand, in determining support orders, courts should not impute
potential income to an imprisoned parent based on pre-incarceration wages or other employment-
related income, but should rather calculate support based on the actual income and assets
available to the parent.
I. Alternative Approaches Reflected in Other States
By some estimates, nearly a quarter of all state prisoners are parents who have open child
support cases. Re-Entry Policy Council, Report of the Re-Entry Policy Council: Charting the
Safe and Successful Return of Prisoners to the Community 190, 198 (2004). 2 It is thus not
surprising that several states have dealt with how to treat incarceration for the purposes of
determining income when setting or modifying child support obligations. Most of these reported
cases deal with whether incarceration should justify the reduction of an existing support order,
and we must be careful to distinguish that issue from the case at hand. See Frank J. Wozniak,
Annotation, Loss of Income Due to Incarceration As Affecting Child Support Obligation, 27
A.L.R. 5th 540 (1995).
1
Jeffrey also raises a claim that the trial court erred in dividing the marital estate equally between the parties.
(Appellant’s Br. at 14-17.) We summarily affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals as to that portion of the
appeal. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).
2
See also Jessica Pearson, Building Debt While Doing Time: Child Support and Incarceration, Judges’ J., Winter
2004, at 5, 5.
3
Among the relatively small number of cases that deal directly with this issue, a number of
separate approaches have been articulated. We examine these approaches here briefly to provide
the basis for further discussion.
A. Absolute Justification Rule. Some seven states consider imprisonment absolutely
sufficient grounds to justify modifying or suspending child support. Yerkes v. Yerkes, 573 Pa.
294, 300 n.4, 824 A.2d 1169, 1172 n.4 (2003). A typical example of this approach is the case of
Leasure v. Leasure, 378 Pa. Super. 613, 549 A.2d 225 (1998). There, the Pennsylvania Superior
Court ordered a non-custodial parent’s support obligation suspended during incarceration
because imprisonment represented a change in circumstances sufficient to justify modification.
Id. at 618, 549 A.2d at 228. The court rejected the argument that imprisonment constituted
voluntary unemployment or underemployment, and instead noted that continuing the support
order would excessively burden the parent least likely to be able to pay the debt. Id. at 616-17,
549 A.2d at 227.
While the Pennsylvania Supreme Court later disapproved Leasure, we mention it here
because it typifies other state authority and is roughly analogous to the issue presented here in
the sense that the outcome is the same no matter when the support order is set. That is, if
incarceration is a sufficient non-voluntary change in circumstances to justify a modification or
suspension of the obligation, it could also support an approach where no obligation is imposed
on an individual who is imprisoned at the moment the order is set.
B. Imputation of Pre-Incarceration Income Allowed. A number of states have concluded
that it is appropriate to impute pre-incarceration income to the non-custodial parent. See
Wozniak, supra, at 587-91.
In most of these cases, the question turns on whether incarceration constitutes a voluntary
reduction of income. In In re Marriage of Olsen, 257 Mont. 208, 848 P.2d 1026 (1993), for
example, the Montana Supreme Court considered whether a trial court had improperly imputed
pre-incarceration income to an individual who was imprisoned at the time the final order was
entered. Affirming the decision to impute that income, the court specifically rejected the
4
parent’s contention that “while his criminal conduct was voluntary, the resulting unemployment
. . . was involuntary and unforeseeable under the circumstances.” Id. at 215, 848 P.2d at 1031.
Instead, the court followed the reasoning of its prior cases that “a criminal should not be offered
a reprieve from [his] child support obligations when we do not do the same for one who becomes
voluntarily unemployed.” Id. (citing Mooney v. Brennan, 257 Mont. 197, 200-01, 848 P.2d
1020, 1022-23 (1993)).
Similar decisions linking criminal conduct with the voluntary reduction of income are
found elsewhere. See, e.g., In re R.H., 686 N.W.2d 107 (N.D. 2004); Proctor v. Proctor, 773
P.2d 1389 (Utah Ct. App. 1989).
C. Disallowing Imputation of Pre-Incarceration Income. In at least one case, a state
supreme court has cited the state’s child support guidelines as a basis for holding that a trial court
cannot impute pre-incarceration income to an individual imprisoned at the time the order is set.
In State v. Porter, 259 Neb. 366, 372-74, 610 N.W.2d 23, 28-29 (2000), the Nebraska
Supreme Court concluded that imposing pre-incarceration income on a felon would conflict with
the state’s child support guidelines precisely because an imprisoned individual had no “earning
capacity.” It likened the situation to other cases in which it had “approved the use of earning
capacity instead of actual earnings in an initial determination under [the guidelines]” and
concluding that in those cases, “there has been evidence that the parent had the present ability to
achieve his or her earning capacity.” Id. at 372-73, 610 N.W.2d at 28. Unlike those cases, the
court concluded, a prisoner has no present ability to achieve the income. Id. at 374, 610 N.W.2d
at 29.
The court specifically rejected the notion that his voluntary choice to commit a crime led
to the reduction in his income by stating that so long as “earning capacity is used as a basis for an
initial determination of child support . . . there must be some evidence that the parent is capable
of realizing such capacity.” Id. It imposed the minimum child support obligation as outlined in
the state’s guidelines and noted that income does not consist solely of wages, thus leaving open
the possibility for a higher support obligation. Id.
5
II. What Is Most Likely to Produce Support?
We conclude that the approach taken in Nebraska is the most consistent with the
Guidelines and applicable statute, with one caveat. It seems appropriate to impute pre-
incarceration income to the obligor after release and place the burden on the obligor to seek
modification if such is warranted. We lay out below the basis for this holding.
A. Suspending Support Inconsistent with Statute. Adopting a system that considers
incarceration an absolute justification for the reduction or suspension of child support appears
inconsistent with the policy embedded in Indiana’s statutes.
The Indiana Code provides that “[t]he duty to support a child under [law] ceases when
the child becomes twenty-one (21) years of age” unless the child is emancipated, or the court
determines that the child is at least eighteen, not attending school, and supporting herself through
employment. 3 Ind. Code Ann. § 31-16-6-6 (West 2006). Given the robust approach our
legislature has taken to ensure that all children are supported adequately by their parents until the
age of majority, we cannot imagine that the legislature intended for incarcerated parents to be
granted a full reprieve from their child support obligations while their children are minors.
Consequently, we think it would be inappropriate to adopt a practice of “absolute justification.”
Moreover, adopting such a position would cut against the established common law
tradition that has long held parents responsible for the support of their offspring. In this state,
that tradition extends back a very long time. See, e.g., Haase v. Roehrscheid, 6 Ind. 66, 68
(1854) (“[i]t is the duty of a father to support and educate his minor children”). It makes little
sense to choose a path that cuts against the grain of statute, legal tradition, and natural instinct so
completely.
3
The statute also provides that child support will last beyond the twenty-first birthday when a child is incapacitated
“[i]n [which] case, the child support continues during the incapacity or until further order of the court.” Ind. Code
Ann. § 31-16-6-6(a)(2) (West 2006).
6
B. No Justification Rule Inconsistent with Guidelines. Indiana child support policy has
long looked to an obligor’s capacity to earn. Obligors who could work and do not, or appear
regularly underemployed, face demands to do better by their dependent children.
The Guideline provisions on “voluntary unemployment or underemployment” reflect this
approach. The commentary to Ind. Child Support Guideline 3(A)(3) states: “Potential income
may be determined if a parent has no income, or only means-tested income, and is . . . capable of
earning more.” Child.Supp. G. 3(A)(3) (emphasis added). As the example most relevant to the
current situation, the commentary uses the case of a parent who “is capable of entering the work
force, but voluntarily fails or refuses to work or to be employed.” Child.Supp. G. 3 cmt. 2(c)(2)
(emphasis added). This provision indicates that the concept of “voluntary unemployment or
underemployment” as used in the Guidelines requires both the ability to earn more income, and
the conscious choice on the part of a parent to reduce income.
Our statutes complement this interpretation. Indiana Code § 31-16-6-1(a)(4) instructs
courts to consider “the financial resources and needs of the noncustodial parent” when setting
support orders. This strongly implies that it is actual present ability of the non-custodial parent
to pay the support ordered that a court is to consider.
The Court of Appeals was correct to note that most criminal activity reflects a voluntary
choice, and carries with it the potential for incarceration and consequent unemployment.
Lambert, 839 N.E.2d at 714. Still, the choice to commit a crime is not quite the same as
“voluntarily fail[ing] or refus[ing] to work or to be employed.” Child.Supp. G. 3 cmt. 2(c)(2).
Chief Justice Abrahamson clarified the relationship between the choices best when she observed
that “[a] parent’s moral culpability in the events that [led to incarceration] is relevant . . . to the
extent that it demonstrates an intent to reduce available income or assets to avoid paying child
support.” In re Marriage of Rottscheit, 262 Wis. 2d 292, 326, 664 N.W.2d 525, 541 (2003)
(Abrahamson, C.J., dissenting). The choice to commit a crime is so far removed from the
decision to avoid child support obligations that it is inappropriate to consider them as identical.
7
We believe the conclusion is also supported by the overarching policy goal of all family
court matters involving children: protecting the best interests of those children. The child
support system is not meant to serve a punitive purpose. Rather, the system is an economic one,
designed to measure the relative contribution each parent should make – and is capable of
making – to share fairly the economic burdens of child rearing. Child.Supp. G. 1. Considering
the existing sociological evidence, it seems apparent that imposing impossibly high support
payments on incarcerated parents acts like a punitive measure, and does an injustice to the best
interests of the child by ignoring factors that can, and frequently do, severely damage the parent-
child relationship.
Individual reactions to economic realities can have profound effects on the behavior of
non-custodial parents. Substantial sociological research has focused on the effects child support
obligations and incarceration have on the behavior of non-custodial parents.4 These studies have
generally concluded that the existence of unsustainable support orders actually leads to greater
failure of non-custodial parents to pay their support obligations. 5
The Council of State Governments has created the Re-Entry Policy Council to promote
study and innovation in this field, and federal departments such as Justice and Labor have
supported its work. The Council has produced a comprehensive report on the difficulties of re-
admitting prisoners into society. The report identified child support obligations, especially
arrearages, as a barrier to successful re-entry into society because they have a tendency to disrupt
family reunification, parent-child contact, and the employment patterns of ex-prisoners. Re-
Entry Policy Council, supra, at 327.
4
See, e.g., Judi Bartfeld & Daniel R. Meyer, Child Support Compliance Among Discretionary and Nondiscretionary
Obligors, 77 Soc. Serv. Rev. 347 (2003); Harry J. Holzer & Paul Offner, The Puzzle of Black Male Unemployment,
Pub. Int., Winter 2004, at 74; Harry J. Holzer et al., Declining Employment Among Young Black Less-Educated
Men: The Role of Incarceration and Child Support (2004); I-Fen Lin, Perceived Fairness and Compliance with Child
Support Obligations, 62 J. Marriage & Fam. 388 (2000).
5
For a more detailed description, see the sources cited above. For support for the opposite conclusion, that
enforcement policies have limited impact on non-custodial parent compliance or participation in the legitimate labor
market, see Richard B. Freeman & Jane Waldfogel, Does Child Support Enforcement Policy Affect Male Labor
Supply?, in Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution in Child Support Enforcement 94 (Irwin Garfinkel et al. eds., 1998).
8
Among the factors identified as contributing to lack of compliance with support orders is
the perception among obligors, whether incarcerated or not, that the imposition of high support
orders is punitive or otherwise unfair. Lin, supra note 4, at 395-96. Analysis reveals that when
the support order has produced large arrearages, there is a significant decline in compliance with
the order. Bartfeld & Meyer, supra note 4, at 365. The ultimate implication of this research is
that when a parent is finally released from prison with a large child support arrearage, the parent
is less likely to comply with the order.
Moreover, once released, non-custodial parents tend to view the methods employed to
collect support and arrearages as a disincentive to seek legitimate gainful employment. Research
suggests that high maximum garnishment rates 6 and other enforcement mechanisms tend to
discourage employment, particularly among the lower socioeconomic strata, which tend to view
employment as elastic in nature. Holzer & Offner, supra note 4, at 79-80; Holzer et al., supra
note 4, at 24. When combined with the difficulty faced by felons in obtaining employment, there
is thus a strong incentive to seek work in the “underground economy” where it is difficult for
authorities and custodial parents to track earnings and collect payments. Re-Entry Policy
Council, supra, at 327.
The ultimate lesson to be drawn from this research is that when high support orders
continue through a period of incarceration and thus build arrearages, the response by the obligor
is to find more methods of avoiding payment. To the extent that an order fails to take into
account the real financial capacity of a jailed parent, the system fails the child by making it
statistically more likely that the child will be deprived of adequate support over the long term.
C. Not Imputing Income Is the Best Solution. Ultimately, adoption of the non-imputation
approach preserves the traditional rule imposing support without ignoring the realities of
incarceration. Unlike the absolute justification rule, the non-imputation approach allows courts
to comply with the Guidelines by imposing at least the minimal support order as provided by
Ind. Child Support Guideline 2. This serves the child support system by ensuring that all non-
custodial parents remain responsible – at least to some degree – for the support of their children.
6
See, e.g., Ind. Code Ann. § 24-4.5-5-105(3) (West 2006) (up to 65% of disposable earnings).
9
The most obvious examples of the unfair results that would occur under an absolutist
approach are the case of the very wealthy and the very poor non-custodial parent. Under an
absolute justification system, the very wealthy but incarcerated parent is absolved of support
obligations when, in fact, there is the likelihood that sources of income exclusive of wages could
reasonably be expected to pay the cost of support. On the other hand, the imputed income rule
unfairly burdens the very poor incarcerated parent under circumstances in which he lacks the
capacity to pay his support obligations.
None of the foregoing precludes setting support orders that reflect the actual income or
resources of an incarcerated parent. It merely counsels against imputing pre-incarceration
wages, salaries, commissions, or other employment income to the individual. A court may,
obviously, still consider other sources of income when calculating support payments. See
Child.Supp. G. 3(A). Consequently, unlike the absolute justification rule, prisoners who do have
the capacity to pay higher support obligations remain responsible for that support level.
Moreover, a court could well order an increased support payment as soon as the
incapacity caused by prison is removed from a non-custodial parent’s ability to earn income. In
other words, a court could prospectively order that child support return to the pre-incarceration
level upon a prisoner’s release because following release, the parent is theoretically able to return
to that wage level. Such an order has multiple benefits. First, it encourages non-custodial
parents to track carefully their support obligation, as it would require an incarcerated parent to
seek modification of the order upon their release. Second, it relieves the custodial parent from
the added burden of tracking the expected release date of the obligor and filing for modification
upon that release.
Conclusion
Here, the court was justified in predicting that the obligor might re-attain something like
his pre-incarceration income – and placing on the obligor the burden to petition for a
10
modification. Ordering that same support during incarceration was error, however, unless there
were other means (like the obligor’s income derived from rental properties and his portion of the
property division) to meet it. The record here suggests that such means might exist in this case.
We affirm the trial court’s support order as respects the period after Lambert’s
incarceration and remand for entry of such current amount as reflects Lambert’s actual present
resources.
Dickson, Sullivan, Boehm, and Rucker, JJ., concur.
11