ODOM v. WILLIAMS (2024)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Paul L. Alpert, J.), entered January 24, 2022, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, incorporating by reference the parties' so-ordered stipulation of settlement dated November 27, 2018, which directed the husband to pay $2,184.00 per month in child support, unanimously modified, on the law, to vacate the basic child support provisions and remand the matter for a determination of the parties' basic child support obligation, including the parties' prorated contributions toward statutory add-on expenses, in accordance with the Child Support Standards Act (CSSA), and for further proceedings consistent with this decision, and entry of an amended judgment in accordance herewith, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

The parties' so-ordered stipulation of settlement did not comply with the requirements of the CSSA because it failed to recite that the parties were advised of the provisions of the CSSA, and that the basic agreed-upon child support obligation would presumptively result in the correct amount of support to be awarded (Domestic Relations Law § 240[1–b][h]).  Thus, the parties' monthly basic child support obligation must be recalculated through the application of the CSSA, including the parties' pro-rated obligation for statutory add-on expenses incurred by a custodial parent as set forth in Domestic Relations Law § 240(1–b)(c)(4) and (5).

In the interim, defendant shall continue to pay to plaintiff child support in the amount of $2,184.00 per month and 50% of add-on expenses as set forth in the judgment of divorce, with any overpayment to be credited against defendant's future payment of the child's add-on expenses after entry of the amended judgment, or underpayments to be debited to him and included as arrears in the amended judgment.