Greiner v. Keller

Filed 6/14/19 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

MARK GREINER, Plaintiff and Respondent, A154755 v. KIMBERLEE KELLER, (Sonoma County Super. Ct. No. SFL62914) Defendant and Appellant.

We consider the scope of Family Code section 4062, which provides that a trial court must order an award for childcare costs related to a parent’s “employment or to reasonably necessary education or training for employment skills.”1 Kimberlee Keller (mother) is the custodial parent of the parties’ young child and supported herself and the child on a combination of public assistance plus earnings from part-time and temporary employment. She sought an award for childcare costs so that she could obtain a paralegal certification with the goal of becoming fully self-supporting without the need for public assistance. Framing the legal issue as one of first impression as to the applicability of section 4062 “to a situation where a party is employed with marketable skills and is electing to improve their skills through education,” the trial court ruled mother’s request exceeded the scope of section 4062 because the statute does not allow an award of childcare costs incurred while a parent pursues education to expand existing employment skills if a parent’s currently marketable skills were sufficient to secure employment or were capable of being used to secure employment even if being underutilized.

1 All further unspecified statutory references are to the Family Code.

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However, the trial court failed to give due consideration to the statute’s plain language, which is no way restricts “employment” or “employment skills” to current employment, as well as the Legislature’s general principles governing child support awards. As section 4062 allows a court to consider a request for childcare costs related to reasonably necessary education for prospective employment to allow a custodial parent to become self-supporting without the need for public assistance, we reverse the order and remand the matter with directions to the trial court to reconsider mother’s request on its merits. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Mark Greiner (father) and mother are the parents of a minor child. Mother has both legal and physical custody of the child. In 2015, judgment was entered in which father was ordered to pay one-half of reasonable childcare costs for their child. In May 2018, mother filed a request for an order, under section 4062 and pursuant to the parties’ judgment, directing father to pay one-half of childcare costs incurred while she attended a paralegal program at a local college that she expected to complete in June 2019 and an online computer skills course at a local library. Her request was limited to the childcare costs incurred while she attended three evening classes a week at the college and on certain Saturdays when she used a specific computer program available at the library for the online computer skills course. Mother had enrolled in the paralegal program, which was only offered in the evening, because she needed to work during the day. At the time of her application, mother was employed in a law office as a receptionist/assistant working 28 hours per week. Mother explained that since 2011, when she was laid off from a job due to government budget cuts, she had been unable to secure stable, consistent, dependable, or on-going employment. She had only been able to find temporary or part-time positions as a notary and office assistant, mostly in law offices. She believed her failure to secure full-time permanent employment was due to her lack of a college education, outdated skills, and inadequate knowledge about new and advancing technologies in the work place. Due to her employment situation, she could not support her family on her earnings