Zack Francoeur v. Meagan Berube, 293 A.3d 418

Parties: Zack Francoeur (father/appellant) and Meagan Berube (mother/appellee); child born November 2015.
Procedural: Final contested hearing July 19, 2022; judgment entered August 10, 2022; Francoeur timely appealed.
Judgment: primary residence and final decision-making awarded to Berube; Francoeur granted three hours of supervised contact per week; court ordered child support of $212/week.
Facts relevant to issues: Francoeur is self-employed in a marijuana-growing business and reported a $17,476 Schedule C deduction and a $2,717 self-employment tax credit on his 2021 return; Berube testified Francoeur had been physically violent (pushed, grabbed, choked); Francoeur denied those allegations.
Trial-court findings: court included the $17,476 and $2,717 in Francoeur’s gross income for child-support purposes; court found Francoeur “does not dispute” Berube’s testimony of physical abuse.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether court clearly erred in finding Francoeur did not dispute Berube’s testimony of physical abuse	Francoeur: he expressly denied grabbing, pushing, choking; finding is erroneous and not harmless because it affected contact award	Berube: any error was harmless	Court: finding that Francoeur “does not dispute” the abuse was clearly erroneous; cannot say harmless; vacated that part of judgment and remanded to reconsider contact consistent with child’s best interest
Whether court erred in calculating Francoeur’s gross income for child support by adding back a $17,476 deduction and $2,717 self-employment tax	Francoeur: amounts properly reduced his taxable income and should be excluded from gross income for support	Berube: $17,476 was not an ordinary business expense; self-employment tax credit is not deductible for support	Court: affirmed income calculation—$17,476 not an ordinary deductible business expense; $2,717 self-employment tax credit not deductible for child-support gross income

Dostanko v. Dostanko, 65 A.3d 1271 (Me. 2013) (gross income for self-employed parents is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses)
MacDougall v. Dep’t of Hum. Servs., 769 A.2d 829 (Me. 2001) (self-employment tax payments not deductible from gross income for support)
Pyle v. Pyle, 162 A.3d 814 (Me. 2017) (same principle regarding non-deductibility of self-employment tax for child-support calculations)
Sulikowski v. Sulikowski, 216 A.3d 893 (Me. 2019) (court cannot rely on an erroneous characterization that a party admitted testimony; credibility must be explicit)
Dube v. Dube, 131 A.3d 381 (Me. 2016) (parental-contact decisions reviewed for abuse of discretion; policy favors frequent and continuing contact with both parents)
Low v. Low, 251 A.3d 735 (Me. 2021) (appellate review principle: findings must be supported by competent evidence)